No One Mourns The Wicked
by words-with-dragons
Summary: Except for him. / Based off the musical Wicked, Jinora is the outcast due to her peculiar green complexion. Kai is the rich heartthrob, unwittingly paired as her roommate at Shiz University. From loathing to friendship, the two find themselves presented with choices, and having to live with the consequences of their actions. [Kai/Jinora] Co-written with spiritypowers
1. Dear Old Shiz

**A/N: This fic was co-written by me and spiritypowers. Updates shall be once every week. No prior knowledge of the musical Wicked is necessary to read the fic, and having seen "The Wizard of Oz" will suffice as background.**

 **Without further ado, here is No One Mourns the Wicked.**

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 **No One Mourns The Wicked**

co-written by words-with-dragons and spiritypowers

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Prologue: The Celebration

"Is it true you were her friend?"

The question caught Kai off guard for a moment, and he stared at the munchkin. Many had gathered around him, all of their round, cheerful faces looking at him. They had gathered to celebrate, celebrate her death, and felt boiling hatred bubble up inside of him for it. He wanted to take their happy, peaceful faces and shatter them, make them feel some fraction of the agonizing pain inside of him.

But he didn't. He was used to playing the part.

"Well," he began delicately. "It depends on what you mean by friend. I did know her. That is, our paths did cross. At school."

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Chapter One: Dear Old Shiz

 _we shall revere our lessons learned, at dear old Shiz…_

Jinora Thropp arrived at Shiz in the most unnoticeable of ways. Hunched shoulders, a long braid of brown hair, shuffling behind the handles of her sister's wheelchair. Other students passing by stared anyway, some whispering to one another, others trying and failing to look away. The pair, after all, was as bad at going unnoticed as bypassers were at not noticing; for the girl in the wheelchair, with long hair dark hair flowing down to her back, was tragically beautiful, while Jinora, in her plain black skirt was undeniably, tragically...green.

"You can stop staring," she snapped, dull colour rising to her green cheeks. She whipped her head, glaring at the students who quickly looked away. "What, is there something in my teeth?" she snarked. "Spinach, maybe?" She sighed. "Okay, let's get this over with: no, I'm not seasick, yes, I've always been green, no, I didn't eat grass as a child - "

"Jinora, please stop," Ikki muttered, staring at her shoes.

" - and here's my younger sister, Ikki, who as you can see is a perfectly normal color - "

"Jinora! Stop making a spectacle of us," Ikki snapped. "It's already embarrassing enough with you…" Jinora's eyes softened, and she shut her mouth.

"Fine," she said sourly, turning her attention away from the students and back to her sister. "I'm sorry."

"Girls," came their father's voice behind them, low and stern and weary with age, "please, try to get along. I allowed you both to come to this school as long as you both promised to get along without me." He was an elderly man, made more so with the visible weight hanging over his shoulders: running Munchinland was not easy, and the death of their mother shortly after Ikki's birth had taken its toll on their father, Tenzin.

"Sorry," both girls mumbled in unison, their eyes glancing downwards.

Tenzin smiled gently. "I didn't come with you to reprimand you two. I came to wish you both the best - and to leave you two a parting gift. For you, Ikki," he reached inside his bag and pulled out a box. "Look, darling." He gingerly opened the box in front of her.

Ikki gasped with delight, her gray eyes now sparkling as much as the gift inside, a pair of glittering silver slippers.

"Jeweled shoes!" she exclaimed. "Aren't they lovely?" she gushed, taking them out of the box and admiring them. "Thank you father." Tenzin looked fondly at his little girl.

"And Jinora, for you - "

"You don't have to," she interrupted, not quite meeting Tenzin's eyes. "I know, I clash with everything." Except black: black was the sole colour she knew that remotely worked with green; even her brown hair clashed with her odd skin colour.

He stared at her with a mix of love, pity, and perhaps a bit of shame, as he pulled a small box out of his bag and held it out in her direction. "It was your mother's. As befits the future governor of Munchkinland."

"We both know that's going to be Ikki," she muttered, but she took the box anyway, looking up bashfully at her father's face. "Still, thank you."

"Take care of your sister," he said, grey eyes pleading.

She bowed her head and stiffened. "Of course. You know that's the only reason I'm here."

Tenzin furrowed his eyebrows. "That's not what I - "

"It's okay," she said, forcing a small smile. "We'll write you. Promise."

Tenzin nodded stiffly, before leaving a quick kiss on Ikki's head and turning to leave. He wondered how much his daughters were going to change, being away from home for the first time. He wondered if it would be for the better, or for the worse. Only time would tell, he supposed, even if he knew he didn't have much time left. Good luck, he silently willed, mostly to Jinora. Maybe finally, someone would look beyond her skin.

"I kind of already miss Daddy," Ikki sighed wistfully, watching his back fade into the crowd of students. Her thought was cut short as a shrill voice pierced through the room.

"Welcome students," a woman announced. She was plump with a fat, round face and curly hair pinned up. She wore a headdress with little golden tassels dangling from either end. "I am Madame Hou-Ting, headmistress of Shiz University. Whatever you're here to study, I know I speak for my fellow faculty members when I say that we have the highest hopes for - "

A startled scream and the screech of braking chariot tires interrupted the headmistress's speech and all eyes shifted to both Jinora, looking very frazzled and somehow greener than before, who had narrowly missed being hit, and the man in the chariot, green eyes blinking rapidly as if having just been jolted from an afternoon nap.

The young man yawned, stretching out his arms and shaking out his loose brown hair. His skin was also a rich brown, and he smiled a lazy half-smile. "We're already here, coachman? Feels like I only just drifted off."

" - some of you," Madame Hou-Ting finished weakly. "You!" she screeched, marching towards the late arrival, who had wasted no time in chatting up a few young ladies. She shooed the girls away and glared down the boy, now standing quite tall in his gem-encrusted chariot.

"Problem, ma'am?" he asked.

"I don't care who your parents are, this is ancient architecture and must be respected, young man! You can't just ride through into a building like - like - like you own the place! "

"Do I?" he wondered aloud.

As the headmistress took her time thoroughly scolding the new arrival, Ikki tugged on Jinora's sleeve. "His parents are the Uplands!" Ikki whispered. "They're one of the most important families in all of Oz - they've even had the Wizard over for dinner. He's like a prince! Even looks like one, too," she sighed.

"Yeah, he seems like a royal, all right," Jinora scoffed. "A royal pain. Did you not see him nearly run me over? Why, I have half a mind to - "

"Jinora. Please," Ikki said, "for the love of all that is good, please don't embarrass me again. Not in front of him."

"He's an embarrassment enough himself," she snapped back, leaving her sister's side once again to let her tongue loose once more. "Excuse me, Mr. - "

He looked at her, puzzled. "Kai."

She rolled her eyes. "Kai. Is running over fellow students a formality with you, or was I just lucky?" she snapped.

Kai smirked in response, which surprised Jinora. "Maybe," he replied smoothly, "the coachman saw green and thought it meant 'go'."

Jinora gaped. "Why, you little - "

"Excuse me, who are you?" Madame Hou-Ting interrupted, drawing a clipboard in front of her.

"Wha - Jinora. Jinora Thropp," she huffed impatiently. "Ikki's sister, Tenzin's other daughter."

The headmistress raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Well, Jinora, it doesn't look like we you assigned to any living quarters."

Jinora looked over at Ikki, who was still staring daggers at her. "What…?" She looked back to Madame Hou-Ting. "No, I thought I was assigned with my sister. I'm supposed to stay with my sister."

"Your father didn't mention you, and as such I've made arrangements for Ikki to stay with me," Madame Hou-Ting explained. "I'm sure we can make other arrangements for you somehow. Though all our living areas are completely filled..." She glanced over at Kai, who was half-asleep as he waited for his coachman to have all of his luggage placed in his own room. "Kai Upland, you happen to be the only student listed without a roommate."

"Yep," he replied, popping the 'p' lazily. "I ordered for a private suite."

"Well, this is unorthodox, but…" She turned to Jinora. "Say hello to your new roommate." This jolted Kai awake.

"But - but he's a _boy_ ," she stammered. And an arrogant prick.

"And she's _green_ ," Kai stared at Madame Hou-Ting. "Surely there must be another solution?"

"I'm sure you'll both be responsible enough to live together," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "and besides, all other living areas are completely filled. I'd hate stuff poor Jinora away into an already filled space."

"Please, if you'd just let me stay with my sister, I wouldn't cause any trouble at all, you'd hardly notice I was there - "

"That's the end of that," Madame Hou-Ting stated, walking over to Ikki and taking hold of her wheelchair handles. "Come along, dear, I'll help you move in - "

"STOP!" Jinora yelled. As if she'd commanded it, everyone in the room was suddenly rooted to the spot, as Ikki's wheelchair whirled around on its own and shot back to Jinora's hands with alarming speed. There was a stunned silence.

"You promised it'd be different," Ikki hissed angrily. A lump formed in Jinora's throat. As if she wasn't already enough of a freak and embarrassment with her greenness, her freaky powers had to be the icing on top of the cake.

"I'm sorry," she began. "I didn't mean - "

"You mean to tell me that you did that? On your own?" Madame Hou-Ting asked, her voice soft and eyes wide with awe.

"Something just comes over me sometimes," Jinora explained bashfully. "I'm so sorry, it won't happen again - "

"My dear, never apologize for talent!" Madame Hou-Ting exclaimed. "Have you ever considered a career in sorcery?"

"...Sorcery?" Jinora repeated faintly. Like the Wizard's sorcery? As in magic? She… had magic, talent?

"It's settled. I shall tutor you myself, and take no other students. Perhaps if you can learn to use and control your magic properly, you can even see the Wizard himself! He has been waiting for a talent like yours for a long time, you know. I predict he would even make you his magic grand vizier."

"Um, excuse me, Madame Hou-Ting," Kai piped up. "Um, funny story, but I was actually planning on studying sorcery as well. So it seems like you'll have two students." He gave the Headmistress a charming smile. Jinora rolled her eyes.

"No," Madame Hou-Ting, "just one." She beamed at Jinora. "Now, I'll help Ikki get settled in. Kai, Jinora, you should be able to find your room easily."

"But-" Kai protested, but Madame Hou-Ting simply wheeled Ikki out of the room and left. Kai frowned. "I didn't get my way," he murmured, dumbfounded.

"Oh no, what a nightmare," she sneered. Kai glowered at her, but smiled as a gaggle of girls approached him.

"Ladies, would any of you like to help me unload my belongings?" he asked. They giggled as a whole and followed him out of the rom as well, leaving Jinora alone.

She sighed. This was gonna be a _long_ year. But, she couldn't help but think back to Madame Hou-Ting's words. Magical talent, _her_? The strange quirk tacked on to her long list of oddities was a talent, that could one day allow her to meet the Wizard, become his magic grand vizier? And once she was with the Wizard, everything would change. She'd be famous, adored even, by the citizens of Oz. No one would think she was weird. Her sister and father wouldn't be ashamed or embarrassed by her anymore. She'd be half of Oz's favourite team, and a blinding vision of her waving at hundreds of cheering fans, celebrating her, came hurtling into her mind. Why, if she could have that, she'd never want anything else in her life. Maybe the Wizard could even degreenify her.

And no one, not even that arrogant prince Kai, would stand in her way.


	2. Loathing

_Chapter Two: Loathing_

Jinora had never had a roommate besides her sister, so it was incredibly annoying to find her room full of girls admiring Kai. He had already claimed one of the beds, the one closest to the door (the one she always preferred), boxes of his belongings strewn around his half of the room. She couldn't deny at least, that the room was lavish: red velvet drapes hung over large windows, the silk sheets of the bed clean and fresh.

She dragged her luggage over to her bed, stepping over boxes and dropping her handbag onto the bed, sighing. The girls were all talking over each other, the state of Oz were they loud. Jinora could feel a headache coming on, and she wanted to be well-rested for her first day of classes.

"Alright," she stood up straight, marching over to Kai and hoping she looked somewhat intimidating. "Ground rules. No more than five people in the room at once, and no people on nights before tests. Or the first night before school." She glared at the girls, who stared at her, dumbfounded. "That means, out, now."

The girls must've been so shocked at her display of magic a few hours earlier, and her green skin, that they hastily made her way out. Jinora could hear them muttering about her ("What a weirdo.") but she ignored them, grateful they were gone.

"You didn't have to be so rude," Kai pointed out, staring her, his brow furrowed.

"I'm busy. Besides, I only treat people the way they treat me." Jinora felt suddenly self-conscious under his gaze, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He's just staring because of the green, she thought sourly. "And for the record, because you missed it earlier, yes I have always been green-"

Kai held up his hands defensively. "Okay, okay, I get it."

Jinora frowned. "Good." She started unpacking, pulling out her textbooks first. She would need to get some on sorcery, there was probably a book store on campus. She could find some that first weekend, if she wasn't swamped with homework. Shiz University wasn't one of the most sought after schools in Oz for no reason: they pushed students hard. Jinora wondered how long Kai would last. It didn't seem like he cared about school at all, but she assumed his parents the Uplands had made some generous donations to get him in…

"I can hear you scowling, you know," Kai smirked.

Jinora looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. "Are you always going to be this annoying?"

"Are you always going to be this angry?" he shot back.

Jinora huffed, deciding to ignore him. She opened a textbook and then snapped it shut. "Look," she began, trying to keep her voice calm. "This school is my one chance to make something better for myself, and I am not going to let you mess it up. So just be quiet, and stay out of my way. Got it?"

"Got it," Kai confirmed. He sounded almost a little bit surprised, but she couldn't find it in her to care. The last thing she wanted was his pity. That was all she ever got, pity and disgust. She didn't any more of it, or she'd collapse under the weight.

 _my pulse is rushing, my head is reeling_

It had only been two weeks and Jinora was already losing her mind. Kai was singlehandedly the most infuriating person she had ever met. Every little thing he did made her skin crawl; his voice, his clothing, his messiness, the way he'd run his hands through his hair, or smile at girls casting admiring looks his way, or the way he was everyone's favourite. It seemed Madame Hou-Ting alone was immune to his charms. (And Jinora, of course, but that was besides the point.)

It was nearly 11 o'clock when she crawled into the dorm room, exhausted from hours at the library studying. Kai was lying on his bed, writing something, a letter maybe. That reminded Jinora, she should probably write home. Ikki had been corresponding almost daily with their father, but Jinora hadn't sent a letter yet.

 _My dear father,_ she wrote. _There's been some confusion over rooming here at Shiz_. She spared an annoyed glance at Kai, who caught her eye for a second before she looked away. _But of course I'll care for Ikki, for I know that's how you'd want me to respond. There's been some confusion, for you see my roommate is… Well, I loathe him. Yes, him. There was some kind of screw up and I've ended up with Kai Upland as my roommate. Apparently his parents are friends with the Wizard. Ikki seems to have thing for him, which I'm sure you could tell by her letters. Speaking of the Wizard, the headmistress Madame Hou-Ting has given me some wonderful news. She has taken me under her wing as her sole sorcery student with the hopes of training me to work for the Wizard - possibly with him as a grand vizier. I know I said I was only coming to look after Ikki, and that continues to be my number one priority, but… I think this could be my chance to make something of myself. Something good._ Jinora stared wistfully at the fresh ink for a moment, just barely keeping herself from adding, "Something not green." She took a short breath and continued. _I hope you're doing well, and I'll continue working hard and taking care of Ikki, just like you'd want. (She adores the shoes you gave her, by the way. She wears them all the time.) Sincerely, Jinora._ She folded the letter carefully and slipped it into a plain envelope before grabbing an old nightgown from one of her drawers, walking into the bathroom without so much as a glance at her forced co-habitant, and silently claimed a few minutes of privacy with a lock of the bathroom door.

For a moment, Jinora was almost grateful that Kai was so infuriating; it distracted from how awkward their situation was. He was everything she detested: a spoiled rotten little brat who always got everything he wanted, now faced with the reality of life: it was not a wish-granting factory like the Wizard was, and things weren't always going to come easy to him. It gave her a sick sort of satisfaction to see how Madame Hou-Ting had turned him down for her Sorcery class. For once, Jinora wasn't the excluded one. Now, Kai was just starting to learn how it felt to have Jinora's life, from the day she was born. But even then, he still had his admirers and his friends and his rich parents. He'd still be fine.

 _though i do admit it came on fast, still i do believe that it can last_

Kai shook his head as Jinora slammed the door. Did all of her actions have to be so aggressive?

He glanced down at the embellished paper (his mother practically packed it away for him) and continued his letter.

 _…Of course, I'll rise above this rooming situation. I know that's what you'd want me to do. I just can't help that she's so determined to be so angry at me all the time. She's….how do I describe her…? Unusually and exceedingly peculiar….and altogether quite impossible to describe. Other than "perpetually angry" and "way too defensive". Though somehow she's managed to become the only first year sorcery student. Aside from me, of course,_ he wrote quickly, thanking his lucky stars that lying on paper took so little effort. _Anyway, I'll try to stay out of trouble. I haven't been doing too badly in any of my classes._ Another lie. Dr. Laghima's class was brutal. _I know you guys worry about me, but I won't get expelled this time. I promise._ He internally assured himself of his intention to keep that promise as he signed off with _Your Loving Son, Kai_ and haphazardly folded the paper into a shape that would at least sort of fit the envelope. He happened to be stuffing the letter into an equally ornate envelope as Jinora stepped out of the bathroom.

"About time," he muttered just loudly enough for her to hear.

"Oh, my - " Jinora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He had to admit, for all the trouble their living situation had caused him, getting on her nerves had proven to be pretty fun. "I was going to bed. I wasn't going to say a word to you. I was just going to pretend you weren't there long enough to have a few moments of peace and you ruined it - "

"You're really easy to wind up, you know that?" he said, looking up at her. Her nightgown was long, an off-white that reminded him of his grandmother's old clothes, but something about her still caught his eye. Maybe it was the way her long, brown hair adorned her shoulders and curled ever so gently around her face (which, admittedly, wasn't terrible, if you could get past all the green), or the way her brown eyes shone with an acute awareness of the world around her.

Her cheeks turned a deeper green (was that her…blushing?) and she crossed her arms. "Did you hear me?"

Kai blinked a few times, surprised he had even zoned out that much. "What?"

"I said, no, I'm not that easy to wind up. You're just an ass. And do I have to repeat the whole 'didn't eat grass as a child' spiel?"

He quickly shook his head. "No. Sorry."

Jinora glared him down for one more moment. "Then stop staring." She broke eye contact and climbed into her bed, her back turned to him.

There was no way he had just been checking out the green girl.

"Goodnight," he offered feebly, attempting to break the awkwardness.

"Night," she replied flatly.

He sighed and turned off his lamp. Yep, he thought, turning over in his own bed, it was nothing at all. Besides, even if not for her odd complexion, they'd still never get along. He disliked her, and she hated him. She was distant, and oddly infuriating, always on the defensive, she answered every question in class perfectly, and never talked to anyone besides her sister. Kai had seen them whispering, an odd smile lighting up Jinora's features. It was odd to see her smile, she looked almost… But they'd never get along. Never.

Right?


	3. Something Bad

Chapter Three: Something Bad

 _under the surface, behind the scenes_

Dr. Laghima's class was Jinora's favourite class. Though she was fascinated by the subject of history itself, the way Dr. Laghima taught it was different. He taught like he was telling a story, and Jinora loved stories. And he was such a good storyteller. He recounted battles vividly, painted pictures of ancient civilizations with only his words, and described historical figures the way one would describe an old friend. She also found his impassioned grunts endearing, even if other students did complain that they seemed a little out of place. Plus, he was the only Animal in the school. He was also different, and she couldn't help but sense some silent camaraderie between them.

"Alright, settle down now," he called out over the chattering students. "I know class is almost over, but we also have enough time to talk about your essays. I am amazed to report the amount of progress you've all made within the past few weeks! Although some of us continue to confuse quality with quantity… Mr. Upland…"

"I've been writing what's required of me, what more do you want?" Kai asked exasperatedly.

"Regurgitating lectures is not what I require of you. What I ask is that you think for yourself! History is the marriage of facts and interpretation. Your essays very often lack in interpretation. It might seem much of me to put you on the spot, but I'm pushing you because I know you can do better."

Kai rolled his eyes. "I've been doing the work. I do fine on the tests, I turn everything in on time. Can't that be enough?"

Jinora snorted at him. "Maybe excusing your lackluster performance just so you can glide by on your parents' tuition money isn't Dr. Laghima's sole purpose in life. Maybe he's not like every other professor. Maybe some of us are different."

Kai smirked back in her direction. "Oh? It seems the artichoke is steamed." Giggles bubbled up from the rest of the class.

"Enough!" Dr. Laghima yelled above the students as Jinora glowered in her seat. "Miss Jinora has a point! As you know, I am the sole Animal on the faculty; the token Bison, as it were. Oh, but it wasn't always this way!" He seemed to look out beyond the classroom, lost in some beautiful memory. "If only you could have seen how it once was. Where you could walk down the halls and see a Deer Dog deriving an equation, a Panrilla reciting poetry, a Walrus Yak waxing philosophic… Don't you see, dear students, how our dear Shiz - why, all of Oz, even - is becoming less and less…" His eyes rested on Jinora, and he offered her a gentle smile. "Less colourful." Jinora smiled back, a little surprised that he'd managed to turn her oddity into a compliment.

Kai's hand shot up. Before Dr. Laghima even had a chance to call on him, he spouted, "Sir, why can't you just teach us history instead of always harping on the past?"

The professor's smile faded a bit, though the kindness in his eyes never faltered. "Well, perhaps these questions will enlighten you," he replied, walking over to turn over the double-sided chalkboard. Once he turned it over, the words, in their harsh, blocky print, were unmistakable: "ANIMALS SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD."

A hushed gasp traveled through the room, and pin-drop silence was achieved among the class for the first time that year. Through all his angry, shocked sputtering, Jinora couldn't help but recognize an all-too-familiar look in the old professor's eyes, because she saw it in her own every time she looked in the mirror at her green skin: pain.

"Who is responsible for this?" It was the first time Jinora has ever heard Dr. Laghima sound angry. It was cold, quiet, and heavy on the ears. "Who did this? Is the person responsible too much of a coward to step forward?" he snapped. He paused, then looked to his hooves with a defeated sigh. "Very well. Class dismissed."

The students filed out quickly and silently for lunch, unwilling to suffocate in the uncomfortable silence. All students except Jinora. Part of her wondered if maybe Kai had done it, but she quickly waved that thought away; Kai was a jerk, but he wasn't _that_ much of a jerk.

Carefully, she walked up to Dr. Laghima, whose large, hairy head was now bowed in despondence. "Sir," she said meekly.

Dr. Laghima looked up at her with a sad smile. "Don't worry about me, Jinora. Go along and enjoy lunch with your friends."

She wryly returned his smile. "It's quite alright. I have no friends." She lifted a brown sack. "Would you like to share my lunch?"

Dr. Laghima's fur-covered face lightened up a bit. "Oh, thank you! How kind."

They both sat in a nearby bench together and Jinora offered him a wrapped half of a sandwich. Gratefully, he took the little package and took a small bite - paper wrappings and all. As he chewed, he looked back at the board, and Jinora's eyes followed his line of sight. The words remained, the capitalized ignominy glaring down the professor with its chalk-lined edges. Dr. Laghima swallowed noisily. "I seem to have lost my appetite."

Jinora rested a hand on the professor's shoulder. "You shouldn't let statements like that bother you. I mean, I always do," she admitted sheepishly, "but you shouldn't."

"Oh, Miss Jinora, if only it were just a matter of words on a chalkboard. But the things one hears these days...dreadful things!" He shook his head somberly. "A Rabaroo who was once a professor, no longer permitted to teach. A few short weeks later, he was found to have lost all ability to speak. A Tiger Monkey pastoring young cubs, banned from preaching one day, heard screeching unintelligibly the next. They're only rumours, but growing by the day and still enough to cause anxiety to anyone like...like me." He looked very hard and very gravely at Jinora. "Something bad is happening in Oz."

Jinora looked down at her own unfinished half of the sandwich. "So you're saying that there are Animals out there that have somehow forgotten how to speak? But how is that possible?"

Dr. Laghima's brow furrowed deeply. "Well, with so much pressure not to…"

"Dr. Laghima," Jinora said, "if something bad is happening to the Animals in Oz, then someone has to tell the Wizard. That's why we have a Wizard! So nothing all that bad could be happening, could it?"

Dr. Laghima smiled good-naturedly at her. "I do hope you're right. Anyway, I have another class to prepare for and I believe you have a private seminar with the Headmistress." He stood up. "Thank you for the lunch and the company, Miss Jinora. I truly appreciated it."

"Anytime, Dr. Laghima," she beamed. Once he left the room, though, she couldn't bring herself to forget what Dr. Laghima had told her. They were troubling stories, yes, but people couldn't be that cruel. Not to Animals, anyway. Yes, people had a hard time accepting those who were different, and Jinora knew that from experience, but Animals? She thought they'd been accepted into normal Ozian society long ago. There was no way any action more than some words on a chalkboard could be a threat to them, right? It couldn't happen here in Oz…

"And Jinora, I know Kai may not be your favourite person, but if you could perhaps help him out with his schoolwork, that would be much appreciated," Dr. Laghima requested, popping his head out from the doorway.

Jinora's eyes widened in alarm. Spend more time with that prick then she was already forced to? "But sir-"

"You are my best student, after all," Dr. Laghima smiled.

Jinora flushed. "Thank you sir. I'll… I'll think it over, sir." How could she say no to that kind old Bison now? She'd give it a shot, at least.


	4. Dancing Through Life

Chapter Four: Dancing Through Life

The fountain burbled gently behind Kai and the sun kissed his already dark skin, altogether contributing to a lazy afternoon attitude that did not at all fit with the sight of his bumbling classmate in the park chair in front of him, reciting his notes out loud for the fifth time that day.

"Otaku, we've been over this a million times. We need a break." He looked out at the other little wire tables scattered across the quad, populated by busy students and fat notebooks. "The whole school could use a break."

"We already had lunch," Otaku piped up from behind his stash of notecards. He was a pudgy second-year student, with a very obedient part in his black hair and glasses that couldn't seem to stay on the bridge of his round, flat nose.

"That was two hours ago," Kai said. "And I'm talking about a break that's maybe a little...longer." He leaned back into his chair. "What do people do for fun around here, anyway?"

Otaku stared at him for a moment, almost puzzled. "We...study?"

Kai shook his head. "No, that's what you and Jinora do. I mean, like what do you to kick back, relax? Is there any place to throw a party?"

"There's the Ozdust Ballroom," Otaku said, "but we're in the middle of papers and there are some midterms in a few weeks - "

"And that's why everyone could use a little break. You know, have some actual fun?" He leaned in conspiratorially. "Otaku, get ready for the best night of your life."

It only took a few hours for the news to spread through the school: Kai Upland was planning a party at the Ozdust Ballroom, and everyone was trying to get ready. Girls were scouring their closets for appropriate dresses, boys were gathering up the nerve to ask that special someone to the dance, and Jinora… Jinora was walking with Ikki along a hallway, her nose buried in a book.

"Have you heard about the dance?" Ikki said excitedly. Her silver shoes sparkled in the sunlight streaming in from the corridor's windows.

"Yes," Jinora replied, not looking up and turning another page of her book, _Magic and You_.

"Are you going to go?"

Jinora snorted. "No."

"Come on, you deserve a fun night for once, besides, Daddy said you're supposed to look after me," Ikki insisted. "My wheelchair might be hard to navigate all by myself with all those people around."

"You won't have to navigate by yourself if someone asks you to go with them, which someone will," Jinora said absently.

"And you're really going to trust some boy to take care of your dear little sister?" Ikki shot back with a little grin.

Jinora looked up from her book. "Okay. Fine. As long as it doesn't turn into some awkward third-wheel thing, okay?"

Ikki shrugged, looking a little too pleased with herself. "Fine. Besides, maybe you'll find a nice guy to dance with tonight."

Jinora snorted again. "Very funny." But for a second, Kai's face flashed in her mind. He was sure to dance with a lot of girls. (None of which would be her. Not that she wanted to dance with him.)

Like clockwork, Kai happened to be strolling past them at that moment.

"Kai!" Ikki exclaimed before Jinora had a chance to wheel her away. It was one thing to watch complete strangers fawn over him; it was another thing to be subjected to watching her own sister do the same. "Are you going to the dance with anyone yet?"

Kai flashed a smile in her direction and shrugged. "Wasn't planning on it. I figured that there should be enough of me to go around."

Jinora nearly gagged. Was this guy for real?

"Oh," Ikki replied, a little deflated, but smiling nonetheless.

"There is a guy who could use a date, though," Kai said. "You know Otaku?"

"The really smart guy that works in the library? Kind of," Ikki shrugged.

"Well, word has it that he's a really fun guy. And he seemed kinda down in the dumps lately. Maybe a nice, pretty girl like you could get him to loosen up for one night?"

Ikki giggled a bit and blushed. "Sure, anything for you."

He winked. "Thanks, kid. And I'll be sure to save you a dance." He nodded stiffly in the elder girl's direction. "Jinora."

"Kai," Jinora said simply, back. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Kai smiled and ran a hand through his hair, continuing his walk down the hallway.

Ikki giggled. "You're both hopeless."

Jinora rolled her eyes and smiled. "Whatever. Come on, you have a date to find."

 _nothing matters, but knowing nothing matters..._

It would have been easy to just ignore him. That's how Jinora had been dealing with Kai over the past month, when they weren't taking shots at one another. Still, it was hard to when you shared a room and all the same classes with someone (minus Sorcery). But seeing him in their room, at his desk, constantly erasing and crumpling up papers, looking more distressed that Jinora thought he ever could get, made her remember Dr. Laghima's request. He really did seem to be trying, after all. She supposed it couldn't hurt to just…

"Hey," she said, for once being the one that broke the silence. "You know, if you need any help with anything, I could show you what I know."

Kai looked surprised, but then he smiled faintly. "Thanks. That's… real nice of you."

"History's my favourite subject," she added, "and I know you've been having a little trouble with it, so…"

"Yeah, I'm actually working on the most recent essay right now," he admitted, "but I can't get anything straight. I just really need to pass that class. I'd like to not get exp - I mean - I'd like to just be able to enjoy myself tonight, without having this essay hanging over me."

"Sure," Jinora said. "Can I see what you've got so far?"

Kai passed over his paper, glancing at Jinora while she read it. She scrunched up her face, her brows furrowing, completely concentrated on his work, but he couldn't tell what she thought of it at all.

"Well, it's certainly not bad," she said, eyes never leaving the page.

"...But it's not good, either?" Kai mumbled.

She looked up at him for a moment. "Don't put words in my mouth," she said with a small smile. Had she just...joked? He chuckled lightly as she looked back to his words."I was only going to say, you've gotten the battle that happened in Quox mixed up with the battle of Munchkin Rock. Also, the year you've cited is about 100 years off, but that could have just been a misreading or something. Even great scholars get numbers and letters mixed up every once in a while. And the fact of the matter is," she said, looking back up at him, "these are just...well, facts. You heard Dr. Laghima. History is more than just citing facts. Yes, these two battles happened in succession. But why? How are they connected? There are so many factors in history that cause one event to lead to another. What do you think was the connecting point? That's what Dr. Laghima means by interpretation. It's like… You're writing your own version of a story that already happened. And you have to prove why your version is right with nothing but already established plot points."

Kai stared for a moment, and for the first time, it wasn't because of her skin, or her scowl, or her glare. Although she was never at a shortage for words (especially for someone who was often so sullen and quiet), it was as if, for the first time, he was really hearing her. "You're really into this stuff, aren't you?"

Jinora shrugged. "They're like stories to me. And the way Dr. Laghima teaches reinforces that. I didn't leave the house a lot as a kid, so I used to make up stories, and I even told them to Ikki when we were little. And I only ever felt close to my father when he would tell stories of my mother." She smiled wistfully, and Kai couldn't help but notice how at peace she seemed.

Jinora suddenly grew self-conscious and handed the paper back to Kai, heat rising to her cheeks. "You better do what you can before your party tonight," she said in her usual stiff manner.

"Thanks," he said, sincerely. "You're a great teacher."

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you." She looked at him and smiled a little, and part of her wondered what would have happened next if there hadn't been a loud knock on the door.

Jinora wasn't expecting anyone, but Kai crossed the room and opened the door. It was Otaku. "Package for you," he explained, holding a box. Kai took it from him, giving the other boy a grateful smile. "Oh, and Kai, you'll never guess what happened! Someone asked me to the dance!"

Kai feigned ignorance. "Who?"

"Ikki," Otaku beamed. "Oh, hi Jinora."

"Hi," she replied, turning back to her books. She took a quick glance at her closet before finally returning to her reading. The dress she was wearing should do, she figured, and it wasn't as if she was planning on making a grand appearance. She was, at best, Ikki's backup escort.

"Thanks for the delivery," Kai said with a grin. "You better go get ready for your date tonight."

"Yes! Of course!" Otaku exclaimed, almost...glowing. It really shouldn't have surprised Jinora, seeing as her sister did take after their mother in beauty, but she hardly imagined that someone could become so smitten so fast.

"Hey," Jinora barked before he had a chance to leave, "be good to my sister."

Otaku flushed a little, but his smile remained. "Of course, Jinora. I'll see you later!"

"Yeah," she said unenthusiastically, opening her sorcery book to the next chapter.

"You're going?" Kai asked as soon as Otaku shut the door.

"Um, yeah," Jinora said. "He seems like a good kid, but I still promised my dad I'd look out for my sister. That's all."

"Oh," Kai said, and wasn't sure what else to say. Unwilling to allow another awkward silence to put a damper in his night, he opened up the box and promptly groaned.

"What _now_?" Jinora asked a little more harshly than she'd intended.

"Nothing," he said, "just a package mixup. My parents always do this, I'll see if I can get some friends to help me figure out what to do with this… If I don't see you when I get back, I'll see you at the dance, yeah?"

Jinora nodded with a short hum of agreement before he walked out of the door, and she couldn't help but notice that the way Kai never quite closed the door didn't bother her as much anymore.

She got up to close the door herself and had to wonder if they were becoming friends. The doorknob clicked into place, and like a sudden alarm, shook Jinora out of her thoughts and back into reality. She figured that "friends" might be too strong of a word. She wasn't even sure what friendship looked like. They were more like...polite acquaintances? Familiar roommates?

Whatever they were, Jinora decided that it was enough to conclude that Kai Upland was, for all intents and purposes, not that bad.

 _it's just life, so keep dancing through_

"That's probably the ugliest hat I've ever seen," Shen Shen said, giggling behind her hand. "Who would your parents even want to give that to?" She and Kai were sitting on one of the stone benches near her residence hall, and the sun was hanging low in the sky, highlighting streaks of gold in her mousy brown hair.

"My grandma, maybe?" Kai suggested. "So I guess passing it off to you isn't an option?"

"It's sweet of you to think of me, but no," Shen Shen said with a coquettish smile. "Besides, it wouldn't go with my dress."

And she wasn't wrong. The hat was an old witch's hat: plain, black, wide-brimmed, with the conical part wrinkled and bending from the weight of its own height. According to the five girls he'd already talked to about it, the traditional style had long gone out of fashion, and modern Ozian women typically went for variations that were smaller, and more colourful, and altogether less...sharp.

Kai shrugged. "Well, that's that. I guess I'll just keep it in the back of my closet until I can send it back - "

"Wait!" Shen Shen exclaimed suddenly, holding up a hand. "I just thought of someone you could give it to!"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "After verbally banishing it to the last century?"

"Just hear me out," she said, waving off his comment. "You've been trying to get along with the green girl, right?"

"Jinora," he said carefully. "Sure. Why?"

"Give it to her as a present! You said she's starting to be a little nicer, right?"

"More like less angry, but sure. And she's not going to take the hat the wrong way?"

"Of course not!" she chirped. "Why, she probably doesn't have a lot of friends, and if she's going to the dance as well, she's probably going to be wearing black anyway. I've only ever seen her in black."

Kai tilted his head in thought as he stared at the contents of the package. "Well, I guess there isn't much harm in trying," he said. "Thanks, Shen Shen."

"Of course!" she said. "Just make sure to play it off casually. The last thing that poor creature needs is to misinterpret a gesture of generosity and to fall in love with someone she has absolutely no chance with." She batted her eyes innocently.

Kai couldn't help but laugh. "That's hilarious. You know she's the last person in the world who would ever end up even liking me." He took a peek at the golden watch on his wrist. "I better get going, Shen Shen. See you later."

"Bye! See you at the dance!" she called after him in a sing-song voice. Once he was a good distance out of earshot, she snickered to herself and skipped along to her own room. It would just be a harmless prank, after all. Anyway, she figured she might as well have a little laugh if the green girl decided to show up at the party.

 _down at the ozdust, if only because dust is what we come to_

Kai entered to the sound of Jinora humming softly, a beautiful, sad melody. She realized he was there just a second too late and froze, eyes wide and cheeks a deeper shade of green. Kai didn't even know she was capable of looking alarmed.

"Sorry," she said quickly, "I didn't know you were-"

"It's fine," he said. "You don't have to stop."

"I hum when I study sometimes, and I wanted to get in a little last-minute advanced reading for my next sorcery seminar-"

"Really, you don't have to explain yourself. It's fine," he said, walking over to his closet. Jinora tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear a few times before returning to her spellbook. Kai pulled his suit out of the closet and went to the bathroom, all the while secretly hoping she'd start humming that tune again. He didn't know why he wanted to hear it so badly; granted, he doubted he knew anything around this girl anymore.

Once he closed the door, the humming began again. Her voice made its way faintly through the cracks of the door into the tiled, hand soap-scented room, and he took his time getting his pants and dress shirt on as he clung to every note. It had a haunting quality, but was somehow also...calming. Like staring out at the ocean, standing knee-deep in the water, knowing that the undertow could take him at any moment, but he didn't care.

He slowly opened the door, carrying his navy blue coat over his shoulder. "If you don't mind my asking, where did you hear that song?"

Jinora looked up quickly, then back down with the dark green flush back in her cheeks. "My mother sang it to me every night before she died."

Guilt punched Kai in the chest. "Oh my Oz, Jinora, I didn't mean to - "

"It's fine," she said quickly, "you didn't know."

Kai pulled a green bowtie out of his drawers. He wasn't sure what else to say, and had to figure out how to tie the infernal thing anyway. His mother had always done it for him (one of the only things she had ever done for him). He almost missed her company, even if she did always tie the bow just a little too tight.

"Thanks for getting Ikki to ask Otaku to the dance, by the way," Jinora said after an interlude of silence. "She doesn't show it, but she was just as sheltered as I was. Possibly more so. She's used to having people come to her, so it's nice to see her making an effort to reach out to others."

"Oh," Kai said, turning a little towards her. "Yeah. No problem." Silence settled again for a few minutes as he wrestled with the satin fabric.

Then, Jinora stood up. "Do you need help?"

Kai turned around. She was in a simple sleeveless frock, still black, but better fitted than her usual black sweaters and frumpy gray skirts. She almost looked, dare he say it, nice. Though he found himself disappointed that her hair was in its usual braid.

"Oh. Yeah. Thanks," he said, handing her the bowtie. She took it and slid it around his collar, and that was when it occurred to him that he had just given his dagger-eyed, spitfire roommate the perfect means to strangle him. He couldn't quite blame her, either; even if their personalities hadn't been completely different, he knew he was a messy person to live with.

But there was no sign of aggression, either in the way her nimble fingers worked the crumpled material into an acceptable form of neckwear nor in her face, which was set in a steady, focused gaze on his collar. Her fingers lightly brushed under his chin and he gulped, surprised and a little bewildered that her touch had left him anything but disgusted.

"And, um, speaking of my sister," she said, more quietly than he'd ever heard her, "please don't…" She sighed, and looked straight into his eyes. "Look," she said, with a softness in her brown eyes that he'd never noticed before. "I know you have this bad boy, devil-may-care reputation to keep up. I have no idea how reputations work because I could never really control mine, but I know that yours is important to you, and for whatever reason, you feel the need to keep this shamelessly flirtatious persona up. Just...whatever you do with whoever tonight, please don't hurt my sister."

Kai blinked in surprise. Did she really think he was the kind of person that would do something so thoughtless? "I hope you know I wouldn't really… I mean…" Any excuses for his behavior and reputation fell flat on his lips. "I promise I won't," he said finally, with as much solemnity as he could muster.

"Thank you," Jinora said, patting his bowtie. "There. You're done."

He smiled. "Really?" He looked in the mirror, and sure as her word, his bowtie was there, neat and straight. "My mom always makes them too tight. I've gotten used to a pinching feeling letting me know when my bow was done."

Jinora smiled ever so slightly (did she just smile at something _he_ had said? This evening was getting weirder by the minute). "I used to tie bows in Ikki's hair when she was little. I could never tie them too tight without having her complain."

He laughed and faced her. "Well, you did a good job." And as he looked into her face, he was amazed to realize that they were actually smiling. At each other. No exchanged glares of irritation, or contempt. Just two people, actually kind of getting along. Jinora glanced down at the floor, visibly embarrassed, and Kai hoped he hadn't been staring. And that if he had, she wouldn't take it the wrong way. The package on the chair a little distance behind her caught his eye just in time.

"Oh! I almost forgot." He walked past her and took the hat out of the large box. "Here. I thought, you know, since you've been pretty okay for someone who probably hates my guts, and I really have no use for a girl's hat, that you could wear this at the party tonight. It's...sharp. Like you." He mentally smacked himself in the head. That was the absolute worst compliment he'd ever given a girl.

Jinora's eyes widened at the gift. "Oh," she gasped gently, taking the hat from him. "Thank you." She gingerly placed the hat on her head. It happened to be the same shade of black as her dress, and, amazingly, suited her. Kai couldn't believe he was thinking this, but she kind of looked good. Yeah, the hat might still be pretty terrible on its own, but the way it tilted ever so slightly to the left on Jinora's head just seemed so...right. "And for the record, I don't actually hate your guts," she added quickly.

"Thanks," Kai said. "It...looks like it belongs with you."

Jinora laughed lightly, and Kai had to wonder how often he'd heard her laugh before, or how often she'd been complimented in the past. Not very much, as made clear from how visibly flustered she was.

"Well," she said a little too loudly, "I better go check on Ikki. Her wheelchair sticks sometimes and I need to teach Otaku how to get it out of a rut." She rushed past him and went out the door with a quick, "Bye."

"See you later," he called weakly after her. Having her for a roommate was still pretty weird, but the look in her eyes made him think that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be as bad as he initially thought it would be.

 _and the strange thing, your life could end up changing, while you're dancing through_

The party was turning out to be everything Kai had hoped for. The Ozdust was a fine building, and that night it was filled with well-dressed company, music, laughter, and life. Overall an astounding success, he thought. He looked over in the direction of a wheelchair that held Ikki, glowing in silver from head to toe, alongside Otaku, who seemed very happy with his company, if not a bit stifling. Kai had just finished her dance with Ikki (which had been more like a wheelchair turn about the room) and her partner had wasted no time in returning to her side. Though her stiff smile suggested that she might be a bit overwhelmed by Otaku's overzealousness, her cheeks were flushed with laughter, and she truly looked safe and happy, even with Jinora nowhere to be found. Kai couldn't help but notice that Ikki and Jinora both had the same smile.

His thoughts were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He whipped around and grinned at his newest company.

"Opal!" he exclaimed, wrapping her in a hug that reminded him of home. "I haven't seen you all semester!"

She laughed into the hug, and ruffled his hair after pulling away. "We probably spend time in different circles. And I am a third-year student," she said. "How are you? Your parents told me to check up on you, but I've been so busy up till now. Though it seems that you're doing fine, considering the relatively tame shindig you've thrown this evening. Staying out of trouble?"

Kai rolled his eyes, but couldn't hide his smile. "Even when I'm away from home, it's like Mom's still with me," he teased, which earned him a light slap on the arm. "Actually, I'm doing fine. I've been doing well in classes, I haven't run into any bad company, and I'm actually trying… Although…" He winced a little and Opal raised a questioning eyebrow. "I've been having trouble getting into the sorcery seminar."

Opal's eyes widened. "Isn't that what your parents have been trying to get you to do?"

"Madame Hou-Ting's really strict about taking in new students," Kai said.

As Opal opened her mouth to respond, a voice near them said, "You're certainly right about that."

Kai turned around. "Madame Hou-Ting! I meant no disrespect, I just -"

"I know you didn't," she said, "and I'm not here to get you in trouble. Actually, I'm here to give you this." Reaching into her sleeve, she pulled out a thin ivory rod - a training wand. She placed it in Kai's trembling hands.

"Madame Hou-Ting," Kai gasped. "Are you - ?"

"Yes," she said, looking less than pleased, "I'm inviting you to join my seminar."

"But why - ?"

Madame Hou-Ting held up her hands. "It wasn't my idea. It was your roommate's."

"Jinora?" he said in disbelief.

"Yes," Madame Hou-Ting replied simply. "She approached me right before the party and insisted that I ask you to join, this very night. She insisted; she said she would quit the seminar if I didn't."

"But why?" he asked, eyes still transfixed on the wand.

"I have no idea. My personal opinion," she said with a frown, "is that you do not have what it takes. I hope you'll prove me wrong." She nodded politely to both him and Opal, and as she left, Kai heard her mutter under her breath, "I doubt you will." In spite of any snide comments the Headmistress could make, Kai still couldn't stop staring at the wand. He couldn't believe how wrong he'd been about Jinora.

"What's wrong?" Opal asked, snapping Kai back into reality.

Kai laughed breathlessly. "I got what I wanted."

"Then...what's the problem?" Opal asked.

Kai grinned at her. "Nothing."

"Great," Opal beamed back. "Your parents will be so proud."

A sudden rise of laughter bubbled over their conversation, and they turned around to see Jinora, green skin shining under the lights, quite the spectacle in her large hat. She was blushing a deeper green than he'd ever seen, and her trembling bottom lip was just barely concealed by the defiance in her eyes.

"Who's that?" Opal asked.

"My roommate," Kai said. Before Opal could ask anything else, he simply added, "Please, don't stare."

Then, as if her odd hat and odd skin weren't enough, Jinora began to dance - to no music. Even her movements, all writhing arms and haphazard turns, seemed to wear the title of "outcast" like a badge.

"Well, I'll give her this: she doesn't give a twig about what anyone else thinks," Opal remarked.

Kai shook his head. "Of course she does. She just pretends not to."

Without another word, he walked towards Jinora.

Asking girls to dance was nothing new to Kai. Asking girls to do anything wasn't new to Kai. But somehow, approaching this tall green force of nature was one of the most intimidating things (and one of the best things) he would ever remember doing in his life.

"Excuse me," he croaked, and Jinora turned around to face him. He gulped, and continued. "May I cut in?"

Jinora only stared at him as he then proceeded to copy each of her movements, as best as he could. The laughter and staring died down, and the music started again.

"Well?" he beckoned, holding out his hand to Jinora. Hesitantly, she took it, and they danced. Horrifically. And slowly, but surely, they both began to laugh. Jinora's face seemed to glow, and not just because of her skin. For the first time, he thought she looked beautiful. And Kai couldn't remember the last time he'd been so caught off guard by beauty, but all he cared about was that this strange, stubborn girl was causing this lightness in his chest and he liked it more than he'd liked anything in a very long time.

The party at the Ozdust was the first party Kai had ever left early. And Jinora was the first girl that Kai had gone home with as a friend.


	5. A Promise

Chapter Five: A Promise

 _and though you protest your disinterest…_

"That was your first party?" Kai exclaimed. Jinora, who was facing him in the bed next to him, with her legs crossed and hands clasped, laughed and nodded. "I suppose that would explain the dancing…"

"Hey!" Jinora said, grabbing the nearest pillow. She threw it at him, laughing, and he couldn't help but laugh along with her. "It wasn't nearly as bad as yours," she countered with a smirk.

"You're challenging an Upland's dancing skills?" Kai prodded with an equally devious grin. Before she could answer, Jinora found herself pulled back up by Kai, till they were face-to-face once again. "Miss Thropp, I'm assuming you've never waltzed before?"

"What part of 'that was my first party ever' did you miss?" Jinora returned.

Kai drew a hand to his chest in mock offense. "Such sass," he remarked with a shake of his head, and Jinora couldn't help but giggle. "Here, just follow my lead," he said, guiding one of her hands to his shoulder and holding the other in the mirroring hand. He drew his own free hand around her waist, resting at the small of her back, and Jinora wanted to kick herself for blushing under the contact.

"It's just like making a box with your feet," he said, stepping in time to no music. Jinora stared at her feet, both alarmed and excited by the pace at which Kai stepped.

She looked up at him and smiled shyly. "Am I getting it?"

He grinned back and twirled her around. "You sure are a fast learner," he said once she was back in his arms. "This is pretty much the go-to dance at most high-society parties. Probably because it's an easy dance to talk along to."

Jinora raised her eyebrows, and she found the apparent amusement in Kai's face at her shock was suddenly much less annoying and much more endearing. "You people can talk while doing this?"

He laughed a light, easy laugh, and Jinora couldn't help but join in. How hadn't she noticed how contagious his laughter was before?

"You can do it! Try me. Ask me anything."

Jinora bit her lip as she searched for appropriate questions, then asked, "When did you first learn to waltz, and who taught you?"

"My first nanny, when I was six," Kai said, never missing a beat. "She was probably the youngest nanny I had, around our current age if I can remember correctly. Most of my nannies after her didn't like me very much, but she took a liking to me." His smile faltered a bit, and his eyes wandered over to some spot on the wall behind her. "Looking back, I guess she was the only real friend I ever had as a kid."

Jinora's smile faded. "If anyone knows what it's like to be lonely, it's me."

Kai could only imagine what it was like, being judged by your skin colour everywhere you went, being marked as strange before you even opened your mouth. How he hadn't made it any easier on her either. "Sorry about that um, green light joke," Kai said, ducking his head bashfully. He had never properly apologized, after all.

Jinora smiled softly at him. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I wasn't exactly the nicest person either. Maybe a fresh start?" She felt a pang of a disappointment when he let go of her, but ignored it as he did a ridiculous bow.

"Hello, I am Kai Upland," he said in a lofty voice, barely able to stifle a smile. Jinora giggled, doing a curtsey.

"I am Jinora Thropp, how do you do?" she asked, playing along. Kai couldn't hold in his laughter as he shook her hand. "Since we were both lonely children, how about a promise that we'll make sure we're not lonely now?" She bit her lip, slight hesitance coming into her voice. She had never had a real friend besides her sister before, much less one who was easily the most popular boy in school, while she was just… well, her.

"I'd like that," Kai replied, smiling nervously. Jinora grinned back. She could never remember smiling so much. "So, during all those lonely hours of childhood, what did you do?"

"Read, mostly." Jinora answered. "We have a huge library back home, I'd read everything. And then I'd read it again. You?"

"Not a huge reader, but if you have any books you'd think I'd like, I'd give them a shot." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I trust your judgement."

Jinora flushed. "Speaking of books, you're going to need to catch up to be ready for sorcery. Do you want to start that tonight?"

"Oh, come on, let's not talk about school," Kai begged her. "There'll be plenty of time for that tomorrow. Tonight… let's do something fun. We could… sneak around the school. There's lot of cool places we haven't been to yet. We could even check out the library."

"But it's after curfew," Jinora said hesitantly. "I don't know, Kai, Mr. Snell might catch us…"

"You're worried about the crotchety old caretaker? Come on, Jinora, where's your sense of adventure?" Kai arched an eyebrow at her, and she found his lopsided smile melting her resolve.

"Fine," she sighed, shaking her head but smiling all the same. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

"No," Kai insisted, taking her hand and pulling her towards the door confidently. "You're going to love this. I promise."

Jinora smirked. "I'll hold you to that. Alright then, lead the way."

The school was eerily quiet at night, a still calm washed over the building. The only sounds were their footsteps on the stone floor, and the constant thrum of music, still pounding away at the Ozdust Ballroom.

Jinora had never snuck around before, but Kai seemed to know what he was doing. "Where are we headed first?" she whispered, her face feeling warm: Kai's hand was still holding hers.

"The kitchens," Kai answered. "Any sneaking around requires some snacks."

"What's your favourite food?" she inquired, curious about her new friend.

"Cookies, any type really. I have a huge sweet-tooth," he replied. "I bet yours is spinach," he teased.

"Ha ha," she said sarcastically. "For your information, mine is chocolate cake. I once ate an entire cake by myself." Kai looked at her incredulously. "Hey, go big or go home." Kai shook his head, grinning. "But my second favourite food is probably tofu. I'm a vegetarian. Matches the skin, you know?"

Kai barked a laugh. "I don't know, you look more teal in the moonlight." He stopped outside a tall, handsome oak door. "Here are the kitchens. What do you say, Jin, ready to break some rules?"

Jin. Nobody had ever called her that before, but Jinora decided she'd like it. A special nickname. "We've come this far," she said, and pushed the doors open.

The kitchen was dark, with pots and pans glinting with the small amount of moonlight streaming in. Jinora wished that she had learned how to make fire in Sorcery class, but she and Madame Hou-Ting had mostly focused on cleaning and levitation spells. Jinora was getting pretty talented at making things zoom around the room - small things, mind you, like books, but Hou-Ting said they'd be trying furniture soon. And her cleaning spells were pretty spectacular too.

Kai flicked on the lights, making a beeline to the cupboards. "Some leftover cookies from dinner," he crowed, triumphantly holding up a paper bag and reached inside, pulling out a chocolate chip cookie. "Want one?"

"I wanna see if I can find cake first," Jinora told him.

"Speaking of cake, when's your birthday?" Kai asked. Jinora paused in her search to look at him. Kai shrugged. "Cake, birthday cake, your birthday," he elaborated. Jinora shook her head and half-laughed.

"In a few months or so, why?" She pulled open the icebox, scouring the shelves.

"Well, that's the sort of stuff friends know about each other right?" Kai said nervously. "I wanna remember so we can celebrate. Throw another party at the Ozdust or something," he offered. "We could learn a dance routine and wipe the floor with everyone."

"With the waltz?" she teased. She gave the icebox one last look. "No cake," she noted, shutting the door. "Too bad."

"I found a cupcake," Kai held it out in his hand. "Put some icing on it, and it's not that different."

Jinora pulled out a tube of green icing, and Kai joined her at the main kitchen table the cooks always used to prepare food. Jinora gave the tube a little squeeze, but no icing came out. "Odd," she gave the tube a forceful squeeze, and green icing completely missed the cupcake and exploded over Kai's shocked face. "Oh my Oz, I am so sorry-" she managed out in between giggles. "Okay, I'm not really sorry, you look hilarious!" When was the last time she had laughed this hard? It must have been years.

Kai grabbed the tube of icing and squirted it all over her face. "It matches perfectly," he laughed. Jinora wiped her eyes free of icing, laughing. She took the cupcake and smushed it over his face, grinding it into his nose.

Kai got a mouth of cupcake crumbs. "Hey!" He pelted a cookie at her. Jinora ducked and crawled to the other side of the table to avoid it. Concentrating hard on the bag of cookies, she made it levitate and dumped it over his head. "You used magic," he pouted, saving a few of the cookies that didn't touch the floor to eat later. "No fair!"

"You never said no magic," she pointed out, sticking her tongue out at him. After years of thinking of her abilities as a curse, and now as a gift, it was nice to use it for something in between the two: for a bit of fun.

Then they heard footsteps. Mr. Snell maybe? Oh Oz they'd be in so much trouble. Now Jinora wished they hadn't made such a mess.

Kai swore. "Someone's coming," he hissed.

"Give me a moment," Jinora whispered back. She looked at the mess around her and murmured an incantation: the spoiled food vanished into thin air. She glanced at Kai, who looked extremely impressed. "Well, come on, let's get out of here." They both got to their feet. "I'm assuming there's a back entrance?"

"It'll take us into the cafeteria," he answered, and they wasted no time bolting through the back door and into the cafe. The air was cool, the room dark. Kai swore again as he bumped into a chair and Jinora had to fight to keep her laughter from being too loud.

"We need to find a bathroom to get ourselves cleaned up," Jinora said, still giggling. "The one in our room?"

"Nah, everyone will be heading back to the party. I don't know about you, but I don't want anyone to see me covered in cupcake icing," Kai said. "There should be one on the third floor. We can take the stairs to avoid the lifts."

"You really know your way around the school," Jinora remarked. "I haven't seen you sneak out that often. Well, to be fair in that first month I didn't pay any attention to you at all, so you could have and I just didn't notice."

"So you've been paying attention to me lately?" Kai said faintly.

Jinora was grateful it was dark, she could feel herself blushing furiously. She ignored Kai's question and instead asked, "Where are the stairs?"

"This way," he grabbed her hand to lead her through the dark, his fingers warm, and sticky with icing. He opened the door for her, turning on the lights of the stairwell, letting go of her hand.

"Thanks," she said, starting on the first step. Kai closed the door behind them quietly. "Race you?" she asked with a grin.

"Oh, you are so on," Kai smiled, and he shot up the stairs after her. "But no magic this time!"

Jinora beat him to the third floor just barely, hiking up her dress as she scrambled up the steps. "Ha!" she panted, her chest heaving. Her braid had started to come loose, more of her hair curling over her shoulders. Kai found himself thinking she should leave it down more often.

"You won this time," he pouted. "Now let's go get cleaned up."

"Do you think anyone noticed us leaving the party?" Jinora asked as they crept down the hallway towards the nearest bathroom. Luckily no one was coming their way, and they made it to the bathroom safely. "You should come to the girl's bathroom, it surely smells better," Jinora told him, when he went to go into the men's washroom.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," he shrugged, blushing. He hadn't thought of them going in the bathroom together, but it'd be easier to clean up that way.

Kai didn't realize how messy they were until they looked in the mirror. He picked a hardened chunk of icing out of his hair. "Whoa… I'm so green."

"It's a good colour on you," Jinora teased. "Matches your eyes, anyway."

Kai snorted. "See, at least you have brown eyes. Green eyes and green skin wouldn't go together very well at all."

Jinora wet some of the toilet paper in one of the stalls and started cleaning her face. "Are you going to clean yourself up or are you just going to stand there?"

"Help clean me up?" he joked. Jinora threw a wet wad of toilet paper at him in response. "Wow, so mean," he grinned.

"Shut up." She tried not to smile with little success.

Once they were finally cleaned up and cupcake icing free, they ran down the corridors to their room, finally safe from getting caught by the caretaker Mr. Snell as Kai closed the door. Jinora flopped onto her bed, out of breath yet still holding back laughter.

"So?" Kai panted. "Did I keep my promise?"

"You did," Jinora confirmed, rolling over onto her back and then sitting up. "Now hand me one of those cookies." Kai gave the paper bag a light toss and it landed next to her. "Thanks," she said, before taking a bite out of one of the cookies.

"You're really good at sorcery, by the way," Kai told her, casting her an admiring look. Jinora blushed, and looked around the room for something to stare at so she wouldn't have to look at him. Her eyes widened when she saw the clock.

"Goodness, it's already 2 o'clock in the morning," she observed in a hushed voice.

"It's tomorrow!" Kai yelled behind her, causing her to jump. She shushed him out of habit, but could barely contain her fit of giggles.

"People are trying to sleep!"

"Most of them only just got back and are probably getting ready for bed. Relax," he said with that same lopsided grin that Jinora found she was very quickly becoming fond of. "Besides, we've lived together for a couple of months and still have so much to learn about one another!"

Jinora stopped to think. "Okay, let's start with something simple: favourite colour?"

Kai beamed at her. "Green."

Jinora felt a sudden warmth, and she thought that this must be what it was like to have a friend. A best friend. She even surprised herself by abruptly pulling Kai into a hug. He took a moment to relax, but then his arms wrapped around her waist. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you," she whispered, blinking back tears.

"I think I should be the one thanking you," he replied. "This is the most fun I've had in… in a long time." Jinora pulled away to see him smiling brightly at her, and she wiped her eyes, half-laughing. He chuckled softly and then stifled a yawn. "Sorry, I just - "

"Looks like I'm not the only one who's up past their bedtime," Jinora teased. "We probably should get to bed though."

"Fine," Kai said, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes. "Just...one more question."

Jinora's ears perked up. "Yes?"

Before she could tell what he was doing, he reached for her pillow, and asked, "Why do you keep this funny little bottle under your pillow?"

Warmth was replaced by alarm, and Jinora immediately snatched the green glass bottle from Kai. "It was my mother's!" she snapped. "That's all."

Hurt flashed across his face and she felt a pang of guilt. There was an awkward silence before Kai said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, it's just… my mother passed away after Ikki was born. When she was carrying Ikki, she and my father were worried Ikki would turn out…" Jinora gestured to herself, and Kai could see the pain in her eyes.

"Green," he said softly. Jinora nodded, sniffling.

She took a deep breath, staring at her shoes. "So my father had my mother chew milkflowers day and night. Only it made Ikki come early, with her legs all tangled up. My mother didn't survive. So it's my fault, really."

Kai stared at her until she looked up at him, and he gave her sad smile. "That was the milkflowers' fault, not yours. I think being green is pretty cool."

Jinora managed a tiny smile. "Thanks," she sniffled. "But you can't tell anyone."

"Hey, what are best friends for?" Kai shrugged with a grin. Jinora laughed shakily. "You know that song, your mother used to sing? Would - would you mind singing it for me?"

Jinora sniffled again. "Sure." She cleared her throat. "Alright… leaves from the vine," her voice was soft and clear, soothing. Very pretty, actually. "Falling so slow like tiny fragile shells drifting in the foam. Little soldier boy comes marching home. Brave soldier boy comes marching home."

"You have a really good voice," Kai told her.

"Thanks," Jinora said softly. "I just… No matter what I try to tell myself, I can't stop blaming myself. My mother's dead. My sister's crippled. As if it wasn't bad enough with all the gossip about my mother's 'indiscretions' as a young woman, before she married my father. And my father… He tries so hard to love both of us. I'm not blind to it, even though I try to be most of the time. I just can't accept his love, because I don't deserve…" Jinora's voice hitched, and she sighed heavily. "Sorry. This night was really fun and I ruined it."

"Stop blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault," Kai said, and both were surprised by the kick of force in his voice. "I'm your friend and I care about your problems. You haven't ruined anything." Then, more softly, "Is that why you haven't opened the package on your shelf?"

Jinora looked over to the little white box collecting dust at the end of the shelf above her desk. "How did you know that was from my father?"

"I pay attention to you too," Kai said gently. He felt a sudden urge to reach out and tuck a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear, but ignored it.

"You know what," Jinora said, straightening up, "let's open it." She got up from his bed and crossed to her side of the room and pulled the box off the shelf. She blew the dust off once she rejoined Kai. "Wanna open it together?"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Together, they lifted the lid off the box; Jinora stubbornly ignored the way it felt when her fingers brushed against Kai's. Inside the box on white tissue paper was a delicate pink bumblefly comb. It glittered like a jewel. She picked it up gingerly. "It's beautiful."

Kai couldn't help but notice the way the comb reflected in her irises, the slight curl of her hair on her face. His throat went dry, for some reason. Maybe he was thirsty? He hadn't had anything to drink in a while. (Somehow he didn't think that was the reason.)

He gently pried the comb from her fingers, and tucked back her hair, nestling the comb in her dark hair. Stunned, Kai decided in that moment that pink looked best with green. "Jin… you look beautiful."

She smiled at him, which only enhanced the light in her eyes and did nothing in his favour. "Thanks, Kai." She let out a huge yawn. "We should probably get to bed."

Kai couldn't help but think how much had changed, so quickly too. Had it really been a month ago that he had stuttered out an awkward goodnight, and they had thought they hated each other?

"Good night, Jin," he said with a grin as she got off his bed and crawled into her own.

"Night," she said happily, turning off the light. They both fell asleep with a smile on their faces, and it made how tired they felt in the morning more than worth it.


	6. As If By Magic

Chapter Six: As If By Magic

 _who could've imagined, when this night began?_

Growing up, Jinora had always considered herself as someone that was very hard to surprise. She had always had a deeper understanding of the world than most people, and she was very aware of it. She'd always attributed that quality to having lived a life of overall solitude; having been alone so often, observing others by looking through windows and behind doorways was simply a way she'd learned to pass the time. When she first started attending Shiz, she didn't think that anything could surprise her anymore.

So, the class day after the party, she braced herself for disappointment; after all, Kai was the most popular boy in school, surrounded by people that were tripping over themselves to be his friend. And Jinora was still…Jinora. And Kai would probably try to keep their newfound friendship a secret, and Jinora would try her best to figure out how to be fine with that, because even if she was a secret, at least she was finally _something_ to someone, even if that someone found it shameful.

Her surprise when Kai proved her wrong by waving her over to the seat next to him in their morning Life Science class was almost explosive. The confusion on the faces of the pretty girls behind him was only outmatched the confusion on hers. "Me?" she mouthed at him.

"Yeah, you," he said out loud, in the same tone he might have used to confirm that, yes, the sky was indeed blue.

Slowly and self-consciously, Jinora made her way down the aisle of desks, till she reached Kai, who was beaming at her as if they hadn't been at one another's throats less than a few daysago. She smiled back and rested into the seat next to him, trying her hardest to avoid eye contact with the other girls near him.

However, it was unavoidable. Jinora couldn't believe she'd ever thought Kai was a shallow, snobbish jerk as he turned to the gaping girls and said, "Shen Shen, Pfanee, I don't believe I've properly introduced you to my friend, Jinora?"

Jinora flushed a deep green and almost wanted to punch the oblivious smile off of Kai's well-intentioned face. He looked so pleased with himself, it would have been infuriating if it hadn't actually been so endearing. "Hi," she said through a forced smile, waving stiffly. The girls, looking even more baffled, wiggled a few fingers back at her. The Life Sciences professor walked in, cutting their uncomfortable introduction short.

"Good morning, class," Dr. Moon said in her usual monotone voice, brushing loose strands of brown hair from her pale face, "we'll be continuing our previous lesson on essences of consciousness." She began writing out terms and diagrams on the double-sided chalkboard, all of which Jinora could barely decipher. While Jinora was a very good student, Life Science was easily her most difficult class. In that class, she was forced to see people in a way she'd never looked at them before, all packaged up into terms that would always be only just out of her grasp.

"…while the physical form of a person's consciousness is only discussed in theory, it's still important to learn about at length, as the essence of one's consciousness is common amongst all intelligent life. Crystallization of this essence is that commonality. In unintelligent beings, the resulting substance is a viscous goo. Going off of the subject of human consciousness - "

And Dr. Moon was off at lightning speed once again, onto a subject that Jinora could only barely connect to the previous subject. Her eyes wandered from the crowded chalkboard and rested on Kai's desk, where he was frantically scribbling down some notes and diagrams on the currentsubject.

"You're getting this?" she whispered, impressed. He looked up at her and nodded with a slight smile.

"Take a peek at my notes on essences of consciousness."

She looked over at the page next to the one he was writing on, and almost went dizzy at the sight of notes and diagrams that were even more robust than the ones on the board. But in the corner of that page was written a barely legible question: "Crystallization in intelligent beings - Animals, too?" Her eyes flicked back up to Kai's face, but she couldn't read him, as he seemed absorbed in the lesson (which was quite another surprise - who knew Kai had a favourite class?). Pushing the inquiry to the back of her mind, she focused back on the lesson at hand.

 _how is it crystal clear?_

Kai plopped down next to Jinora in her lone lunch spot in the corner of the dining hall.

"I've been looking for you everywhere!" he said. "Do you just disappear every morning?"

The corners of Jinora's lips lifted into a smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to," she said, "I just thought that…maybe you'd want to spend your break with your friends?"

He nudged her lightly. "You _are_ my friend, silly. Which is why I've been trying to see you all day! It's like you disappeared back into whatever smokescreen you had up before this weekend."

Her smile withered into a grimace. "I just… Your other friends seem uncomfortable around me."

"And you seem uncomfortable around them," he said. "Look, if I could learn to enjoy yourcompany, I'm sure others - "

"It's fine. Really," Jinora said with a forceful nod. "Anyway, I'm more curious about the notes you showed me in Life Science?"

He grinned. "It's kind of my favourite class. I guess I get systems and equations better than language and history?" He shrugged dismissively, but Jinora couldn't help but beam at him.

"No, your understanding of the subject is…kind of brilliant," she said. "I mean, I'm good at those subjects on a surface level, but you actually picked up on something I couldn't have even seen on my own. Why don't you ever answer questions in that class, anyway? I bet Dr. Moon doesn't even know how well you've grasped the subject."

"And become an egghead like you?" he teased, which was met with a light punch to the arm. "Anyway, the lesson on essences gave me a kind of…crazy idea. And I can't go through with that on my own. More specifically, I can't do it without you," he said. Then, looking to his hands, he added, "Look, I know I'm not the nicest student ever to Dr. Laghima, but that incident with the board wasn't right, and I've been thinking, what if there was a way to prove that Animals and humans aren't so different, you know?"

The lines between her historical understanding of justice and science connected in a way they never had before. "…And we could prove it with essences! A human essence and an Animal's; specifically, Dr. Laghima's! But…" Her smile faltered. "Kai, you heard Dr. Moon. No one's magical abilities have ever been strong enough to completely finish the experiment before."

"No one's…until now," he said, pointing a finger in her direction and grinning hard. Jinora's cheeks heated up and she shook her head furiously.

"Kai, I'm just a sorcery student! In my first year of university, after years of magic-less homeschooling. There's no way I could be powerful enough to pull off an experiment of that magnitude."

"Of course you can," Kai said. "At least, I believe you can. You're a really powerful sorcerer."

Jinora's blush deepened, and she looked away bashfully. "And if it doesn't work?" she asked carefully.

"It will," he insisted. "And isn't it worth a try? To finally bring Animals the justice they deserve?"

She looked back to him, stunned and touched all at once. "You…really care, don't you?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "Well, yeah. You care about things so deeply that it kind of just…rubs off onto others, you know?"

Jinora bit her bottom lip to keep herself from smiling too wide. For the first time, she was acutely aware of her existence, and it didn't bother her as much as she feared it would - it empowered her.

After a moment's hesitation, she nodded decisively. "Alright," she said, "I'll talk to Dr. Laghima, and… I'll do it."

 _make a toast in joy_

"Dr. Laghima agreed to try it two months from now," Jinora told him, joining him at a table in the library. "In the meantime, we'll have to do a lot more research before we can give it a shot."

"I've already started," he said, a few science and sorcery textbooks open to different pages. "I've already found the right chemical solution, which I can take care of. My friend Opal is getting her degree in Life Sciences, so she has 24/7 access to the lab and is willing to help out - "

"Whoah," Jinora interrupted. "Are you sure it's okay to get more people involved? I mean, the general attitude towards Animals these days has been less than ideal. Plus, we are planning out an experiment that first-year university students most likely don't have clearance for. I know Dr. Laghima agreed to it because he trusts us, but - "

"Don't worry. Opal's cool. She's kind of been like a big sister to me over the past few years. You'll like her," he said with a small smile. "Now, I found the spell you're supposed to use, which is kind of like a tweaked thought projection spell -"

"You've been catching up on the sorcery reading!" Jinora exclaimed a little too loudly, which was promptly met by the forceful shushing from the old librarian.

"…And that surprises you?" Kai asked, looking hard at her.

Jinora looked away, a little embarrassed. "When we first met, I kind of thought you were a slacker riding on his parents' wealth. I was…wrong about a lot of things."

"Not completely," Kai admitted. "Why do you think I was expelled from so many secondary schools and rejected from a majority of the universities my parents tried to send me to? Before, my only reason for trying at all was because my parents had threatened to cut me off if I didn't get my act together. Now I guess…I have something more important driving me." Jinora found herself blushing, and was a little relieved when she noticed that Kai had done the same. "Besides," he added, "I thought you were a complete stick-in-the-mud when we first met, so it's not like you were the only person who was wrong."

"You weren't completely wrong, either," Jinora replied gently. "So, tweaked thought projection?"

"Yeah. According to some of the cited experimental trials, all you really have to do is leave out the last line, and hold the wand up long enough for crystallization to complete. I'm not sure why, but in various analyses, the experimenters all said the wand got heavy."

"And I have a standard training wand," Jinora said, a bit of worry rising in her voice. "I hope this works…"

"It will," Kai insisted, resting a hand on Jinora's shoulder. "I have faith in you."

 _must've been the heat of our hands_

The evening before the experiment, Jinora was holed up in her room, with notes scattered across the floor and her bed.

Two months had flown by in a haze of laughter and late night adventures, sharing notes and stories until the wee hours of the morning. Jinora had never known that having a best friend, let alone finding one in the boy she had detested, could be so much fun. Her relationship with the rest of the students had improved too, or at least they didn't flinch at the sight of her, and anyone who pointed or whispered things got a pointed glare from Kai that quickly silenced them.

"Now who's the messy one?" Kai teased. He was lounging on his bed, finishing up the last of the cookies from their most recent late night adventure. "You should probably take a break, Jin, you've been working for a while."

"I can't take a break," Jinora said worriedly. "The experiment is tomorrow and I'm-"

"Ready," Kai cut her off firmly. "You're ready, Jin. I've seen how hard you've been working. If anyone can do it, you can." Jinora smiled a little, some of her worries fading away. "There is such a thing as over-studying, and this is it."

"For a test, maybe," Jinora said, "but this is more important than that. I just.. I want to do this right. Dr. Laghima has had so much faith in me, and he was the closest thing I had to a friend here before you." She sighed, putting down the page she'd been reading. "He was worried that something bad might be happening to the Animals in Oz. I don't want to believe him, but that conversation has never left the back of my mind. Maybe if someone who cares enough can go to the Wizard and show him just why the Animals need help - "

"And you'll be that person," Kai answered, brushing some notes aside so he could sit next to her. "But not if you're worked up like this. You're ready, I promise. Now you just need to clear your mind." And before she could say another word, he started cleaning up the pile of notes around her bed. "Let me worry about this. Now, what relaxes you?"

A little taken aback, Jinora answered, "Reading. Tea. Listening to music?"

He smiled softly at her. "Go pick out one of your favourite books while I make us some chamomile. We can read it together till you finally calm down enough to get some sleep."

Jinora stared up at him as he crossed into her side of the room to make the tea. "You don't have any plans with your other friends?"

"Go out and leave my best friend alone to work herself into a frenzy? Keep dreaming," he said, warming the mugs of chamomile tea with a quick spell and a flick of his wrist. (She had to admit, Kai was picking up on sorcery more quickly than either she or Madame Hou-Ting had expected.) "Now, what selection do you have lined up for us tonight, Miss Thropp?"

After looking hard at him for one last moment, Jinora said, " _The Sky Dancers_. It's one of my favourites."

Kai placed one of the mugs into her hands, and was amazed at how similar the sensation of his fingers brushing against hers felt to the tingling sensation of wielding a wand. "Sounds great. Care to start us off with some thrilling narration?"

They leaned out on her bed and Kai held the book open for her. Jinora's reading voice was more mellow and light than the usual tone she used, a bit like a speaking version of her singing voice. And, of course, Kai couldn't help but interrupt with side comments whenever a character did something embarrassing or a plotline went into an expected direction, which was usually met with a nudge in the stomach. It wasn't until he woke up a few hours later that Kai realized they'd fallen asleep at all. Or that he realized Jinora's head was resting on his shoulder. He smiled softly at her.

"My green sleepyhead," he murmured, and moving as little as possible, he grabbed a nearby blanket. He set her down gently onto her bed, resting her head on her pillow, and then draped the blanket over her. A few strands of hair had fallen over her face, and Kai reached down and tucked them away before he realized what he was doing. He stiffened, his face feeling warm.

Was it normal to feel this… affectionate about his best friend? He took a deep breath. Oz help him. He gave Jinora one last look, his blush deepening as he realized she looked positively adorable snoozing away like that, before he climbed into his own bed.

"Good night, Jin," he whispered out of habit. She mumbled something quietly in her sleep and Kai smiled.

 _undertaking new inventions and discoveries - talk about your great discoveries!_

All night classes offered had just ended by the time Jinora arrived outside the lab. She peeked at the piece of paper she'd written the room number on, before taking a gulp and sitting next to the locked door. She took a few deep breaths, crossed her legs, straightened her back, and closed her eyes. This was often the position she took whenever she wanted to clear her mind enough to prepare to cast a new spell, usually for her sorcery seminar. Kai had started teasing her about it, saying she looked like she was meditating. And she supposed it was her own form of meditation, and it always worked in a pinch before big sorcery tests.

But this wasn't just a sorcery test. This was her chance to do something good.

"Jinora?" a female voice said, breaking Jinora out of her trance. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up to see a girl with short, thick, black hair, green eyes, and brown skin. Her features almost reminded her of Kai, though hers were a bit lighter. She was also a bit shorter.

"Yes," Jinora said, pushing herself up from her sitting position. "Sorry, do we know each other?"

The girl laughed lightly, and she shook her head. "Sorry, no. Although I hope to change that! I'm Opal, the lab aid that's supposed to be helping you with tonight's experiment. Kai's still gathering all the chemicals, as he got a little lost in the chemistry's storage room! But he should be here soon, and in the meantime we'll all be on the lookout for Dr. Laghima." As Opal stuck a key in the doorknob, she extended her other hand. "Kai's told me a lot about you. It's lovely to meet you."

Jinora blinked in surprise before gingerly taking Opal's hand. The only other person outside of her family that had willingly touched her green skin was Kai. As Opal eagerly shook her hand, Jinora couldn't help but be grateful that there was at least one other person in the world willing to treat her more like a normal human and less like a skin disease. "It's lovely to meet you, too," she said sincerely.

Opal carefully pushed the door open, and beckoned Jinora inside. "We're going to have to be a little careful, as this little adventure isn't exactly sanctioned by our department. Or any reliable authority." She shut the door once Jinora had rushed inside and smiled sheepishly. "I guess technically having a professor participate might count, but for all intents and purposes, we should probably assume that we're breaking a few rules tonight."

Jinora took a few more deep breaths to combat the rising anxiety in her chest. "I didn't realize we were taking such a risk," she said apologetically. "It's very kind of you to offer your help like this."

"Don't worry about it," Opal said, throwing her hand back dismissively. "I'm used to bending and even breaking rules to help others, but I've never been involved in something as noble as this. I know we've just met, but you seem like a wonderful young woman." Opal beamed at her, and Jinora caught herself flushing.

"I'm not," she said quickly. "Really. I'm just a girl trying to help out her favourite teacher. And I care a lot about the Animals. I guess I know what it's like to be different."

"Of course you are - " Opal began, before a light knock on the door interrupted their conversation. "And that'll be at least one of our other accomplices," Opal said in a hushed tone, cracking the door open.

"Opal?" Kai whispered. "I've got everything we need and Dr. Laghima. Have you seen Jinora?"

"I'm already here," Jinora whispered back as Opal opened the door just enough to allow Kai and the professor inside.

Dr. Laghima approached the two women as Kai set the chemicals out on the lab table. "Thank you so much, my dear students," he said humbly. "No matter the outcome of tonight, I want you to know how grateful I am to you for trying so hard."

Jinora smiled eagerly. "Don't thank us yet, Dr. Laghima. We're determined to try to get this to work."

"We _will_ get this to work," Kai amended from his place at the table. "Opal, a little assistance with the solution?"

"Right away," Opal said, making her way to the table. As the two carefully mixed different chemicals together, Jinora and Dr. Laghima sat down together in adjacent seats.

"It seems you've had quite the influence on Mr. Upland," Dr. Laghima said in a low voice, a smile playing on his mouth. "Life Sciences? Who knew?"

"It turns out he's much smarter than he lets on," Jinora said with a light chuckle. "And it wasn't just me. He's so much more than I thought he was, Dr. Laghima. I was…wrong about him." She looked up at his face, kindly and wrinkled and covered in gray fur. "Thank you for convincing me to give him a chance. I gained a wonderful friend."

"It seems as though he did, too," Dr. Laghima said with a twinkle in his eye. "I know I may be an old Bison, but I've seen the way you both look at one another."

Jinora's smile faltered, and her cheeks burned up. "Dr. Laghima, what in Oz do you mean - ?"

"We're ready!" Kai interrupted loudly, prompting some aggressive shushing from both Jinora and Opal. "Sorry. We're ready," he repeated with a whisper.

"Splendid," Dr. Laghima said, getting up to join Kai and Opal at the table. Jinora rose from her chair and readied her wand from where she stood.

"Alright, so here's what we need to do, and do fast, before security or anyone else finds us in here," Opal said, pouring out carefully measured portions of the solution into two shot glasses. "Dr. Laghima, you and I will drink the solution."

"Opal," Kai said, "you don't have to be a test subject. Really, you've already done more than enough. I can do it."

Opal shook her head. "Don't be silly. I'm happy to help. Besides, if Jinora needs any help - not that you won't do splendidly, Jinora, " Opal added quickly, "you're the only other person in this room that has actual sorcery experience." She handed Dr. Laghima the shot glass. "I have to warn you, professor, this solution, while perfectly safe for consumption…isn't particularly pleasing to the palate."

Dr. Laghima chuckled. "Don't you worry about me, dear girl," he said, "just because we're trying to prove that our minds are similar doesn't mean that I'm silly enough to believe that our stomachs are. Whenever you're ready, Miss BeiFong."

And with that, they gulped down the solution, which even Dr. Laghima grimaced at upon ingesting.

Jinora waited for three minutes, as previous experiment notes had advised, before casting the spell. She enunciated each word carefully and clearly, holding her wand steady. And then, once she stopped, remembering to omit the last line, her wand suddenly felt as though it was made of lead. Both Dr. Laghima and Opal held their heads at once, as if both were experiencing the sudden onset of an especially difficult migraine.

Jinora used both hands to hold the wand up, and while sparks began appearing around Opal and Dr. Laghima's heads, she still wasn't sure if it was enough. Then, a steady light began to emanate from them, and a small stream of sparks seemed to flow from their foreheads. Jinora knew that, had she cast a normal though projection spell, the stream would have opened up to a screen, showing their thoughts and memories in real time. However, this was different. This was the moment of truth.

She felt her arms beginning to give out. She could see the light forming a mass in front of both of their subjects' heads, but whether or not they were both crystals was unclear. As the glowing masses grew bigger, Jinora knew that she had gotten farther than anyone else that had attempted the experiment. But she knew she couldn't celebrate yet. She had to see this through to the end.

Just as she felt the wand slipping from her fingers, she felt strong, solid arms wrap around her, and sturdy hands enveloping her own, sharing the weight of the wand. She didn't even have to turn her head to know that Kai was behind her, trying to help in any way he could.

"You can do this," he whispered into her ear, causing her to shiver. Determined, she took a firmer grip on the wand, and she felt Kai squeeze her hands lightly. After a final moment's struggle, a bright light filled the room, then vanished as quickly as it had come.

Kai and Jinora were still holding on to the wand, breathless. "Thank you," she wheezed, dizzy and fatigued. Kai removed his hands from hers, but kept them on her shoulders.

"Would you like to sit down for a moment?" he asked, just barely masking his own panting. She nodded, and he guided her into a nearby seat. "Are you guys okay?" he asked the professor and the lab aid. Jinora's head was still spinning.

"Yes, just a bit disoriented," Dr. Laghima replied.

"And I have a monster headache," Opal added, "but it's nothing we haven't prepared ourselves for!" She smiled wearily at him, still holding her head. "And how's our sorceress?"

Jinora was silent for a moment. "I'm fine," she said. "I just want to know what our results were."

Kai's hand rested on her shoulder. "Can you get up now?"

Jinora nodded. "I think so." She stood up and followed Kai to the table.

In front of Opal and Dr. Laghima were two perfectly formed crystals, glittering in the low light of the laboratory. The group was silent for a moment, before Opal burst out into a breathless, overjoyed laugh.

"Dear Oz," Dr. Laghima whispered, awed. "You did it."

" _We_ did it," Jinora said, grabbing Kai's arm. Slowly, she joined in Opal's laughter, stunned and half-disbelieving. "We did it!"

Dr. Laghima let out a few pleased grunts, and Kai scooped Jinora up into an excited hug. "This calls for a celebration!" he exclaimed as Jinora giggled into his shoulder. Releasing her, he strode over to Dr. Laghima and took his shoulders. "Tell me: do Bisons drink beer? Because we _have_ to celebrate!"

"The plural is Bison, you dear, dear boy!" Dr. Laghima laughed in his grunting, bellowing laugh. "And that concoction you and Miss BeiFong mixed up was quite enough for this particular Bison, thank you very much!" The group laughed, embracing and celebrating as much as they could with Opal's giggle-laced shushing.

Then, there was a knock at the door. They all immediately went still.

"Don't open it," Dr. Laghima said in an urgent whisper. They all remained still until, after a few more moments, there was another knock.

"…I better see who it is," Jinora said in a low voice.

"Hide the materials," Dr. Laghima ordered, and as fast as lightning, Opal packed away the used beakers and glasses while Kai grabbed the crystals and stuffed them into his pockets.

Slowly, Jinora walked over to the door, and opened it just wide enough to be able to identify who it was. Once she saw the familiar tassels and thick eyeliner, she heaved a sigh of relief and pulled the door completely open. "Don't worry," she said. "it's just Madame Hou-Ting."

Kai couldn't help but notice that the old Bison had stiffened at the sight of the Headmistress.

"I saw the light! What are you doing here, Jinora? Mr. Upland, Miss BeiFong, you too? And Dr. Laghima, why are you - "

"Oh, Madame, the most wonderful thing has happened!" Jinora gushed.

"Jinora…" Dr. Laghima warned in a low grunt.

Jinora didn't appear to hear him, but Kai did and was immediately alarmed.

"Madame," Jinora began, "we have just discovered _proof_ \- "

" - that this lab room isn't being properly cleaned up," Kai interrupted, shooting Jinora a warning look. Jinora looked between him and Dr. Laghima, who seemed to have gone pale under his fur. Confused and bewildered, Jinora gulped noisily and nodded, immediately trusting that whatever Kai was doing was for a good reason.

"…Well, I'll be sure to let janitorial services know," Madame Hou-Ting said. "But it's way past curfew! You students should be in your respective residence buildings. And Dr. Laghima, why are you here?"

"Just supporting some of my dearest students in any way I can," Dr. Laghima said with a forced smile, laying a paw on Jinora's shoulder.

"…I see. Well, they should be on their way. I'm sure you understand."

"But…it's raining quite a storm out there. Could the students perhaps stay inside until the rain has subsided a bit?

Silently, Madame Hou-Ting made a violent gesture, much like someone ripping a piece of cloth in half. With that, the pelting of rain ceased.

"Don't you remember, Dr. Laghima?" Madame Hou-Ting said with a somewhat smug smile. "Weather is my specialty. Now, the children?"

"Of course," the professor answered, gesturing the students towards the door.

"But Madame," Jinora tried before Kai pulled her away.

"We'll see you in the morning, Madame Hou-Ting," Kai said quickly, hurrying himself and Jinora behind Opal.

"Kai, what's going on?" Jinora whispered.

"We'll talk when we get back to the room," he hissed.

Not daring to look back, he couldn't help but hear pieces of what Madame Hou-Ting was saying to Dr. Laghima, "…a serious violation of rules…bold, even for you…you didn't really think I wouldn't figure out what you were up to, did you?…not getting away with this…"

 _time to raise our glasses_

Kai was relieved when he was finally able to close and lock their door for the night. He let out a deep sigh and plopped down onto his bed.

"Kai?" He looked up at Jinora, who was sitting in her own bed opposite him, looking at him in concern. "You said we'd talk about what just happened when we got back? With Madame Hou-Ting?"

Kai pressed his hands together, searching for the right words. He almost wished Jinora had picked up on the fishiness back in the lab instead of him, as she would have been able to explain everything more delicately than he knew he would.

"I'm…not sure if we should tell Madame Hou-Ting about the experiment," Kai said carefully.

Jinora furrowed her eyebrows at him. "Why not?"

Kai sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The way Dr. Laghima looked at us when she entered the room wasn't right. You didn't see it?"

"No," Jinora said. "I was so excited about the results of the experiment, I suppose I didn't really notice anything. But Madame Hou-Ting's been so helpful, and supportive…"

"I know," Kai said. "I'm confused, too. But I also heard them talking as we left, and it sounded like she was…mad at Dr. Laghima."

"Mad? We didn't get him in trouble, did we?" Jinora asked, alarmed.

"No," Kai said quickly, "don't…don't worry about that." He smiled wearily at Jinora. "I'm sure I was just looking too far into things. He'll be fine. Everything will be fine." He took the crystals out of his pockets and placed them in her hands. "You did great, Jin. Everything will work out. You'll see." He sighed deeply, and laid out on his bed. "I don't know about you, but I'm way too tired to change out of my clothes." He turned his head towards Jinora with his usual easy-natured, lopsided smile. "How about a few chapters of _The Sky Dancers_ to finish off the night?"

Jinora smiled and grabbed the book off her desk, and plopped into her own bed. As she read, they both couldn't help the feeling of worry that nagged at the back of their heads - despite all they'd accomplished that night, something just felt so _wrong_.

The worst part was, this only felt like the beginning.


	7. Not That Girl

Chapter 7: Not that Girl

 _hands touch, eyes meet_

Dr. Laghima had been fired. Madame Hou-Ting announced it in the morning during their seminar. Jinora stared, dumbstruck, at the headmistress. "What?" she said in a strangled voice, standing up out of her chair. Kai grabbed her wrist to try to pull her back down, but Jinora wrenched it out of his grasp. "Why?"

"His way of teaching was not found satisfactory," Madame Hou-Ting said in a clipped tone.

"But-"

"Miss Thropp, hold your tongue," Madame Hou-Ting said sternly. "It is not your place to speak about the decisions I make regarding my staff."

Jinora opened her mouth to say something, but Kai grabbed her hand again. "Don't, please," he begged, giving her a hand a tug. She allowed him to pull her back to her seat, fuming. Her bottom lip was trembling and he knew she was close to tears.

Madame Hou-Ting surveyed them, saying, "Go to first period per usual," and then left the room.

Kai knew there was no way they were going to first period. He grabbed his stuff and Jinora's hand. "C'mon," he muttered. "If we go to Dr. Laghima's room maybe we can catch him before he leaves."

Jinora nodded, her eyes unusually bright. "Okay." The lights in the room flickered for a moment - a piece of accidental magic, maybe - but she let Kai lead her out of the room. As soon as the sounds of the students, heading off to their own classes, faded, Jinora shook her head angrily.

"It isn't fair!" she seethed. "It's just because he's an Animal! If we hadn't done that experiment, this wouldn't be happening - how could I be so stupid? This is all my fault -"

"This is not your fault," Kai told her, taking her by the shoulders and forcing her to look him in the eye. "This is not your fault, Jinora. Do you understand me? The way Animals have been getting treated, I didn't think Shiz would fall prey to that. But that's why we did that experiment. Now we have proof and you can bring it to the Wizard, right? All we can do now is go say goodbye, okay?"

Jinora placed a hand over his. "Thank you, Kai." She smiled tearfully at him.

"Anytime," he promised. She gave his hand a squeeze. Unwilling to let go, they both walked to the good professor's office hand-in-hand.

The office itself was nearly empty, holding only a bare desk, Dr. Laghima, and two Ozian officers at his side.

"Halt! Who goes there?" one of the officers barked upon seeing the pair.

"It's alright," Dr. Laghima said, smiling up at Kai and Jinora, "these are just two of my favourite students. I'm assuming they came to say goodbye."

"We did," Jinora said, slowly releasing her hold on Kai's hand to walk over to the Bison. She took one of Dr. Laghima's large paws into her own hands. "And we wanted to thank you. For everything."

"I believe I should be thanking you," Dr. Laghima replied. "Yours was a wonderful class to teach. Thank you so much for sharing with me your thoughts, and essays - no matter how feebly structured," he added, looking over to Kai, who chuckled lightly at the jab. "And, on occasion," he said, this time looking fondly at Jinora, "your lunch. Please give the rest of your class my best."

Jinora couldn't hold back the tears that sprung to her eyes. "I'm so sorry if I got you in trouble. I just wanted to help, I never wanted you to have to leave - "

"Shh, listen to me," he said, wiping away a tear with his free paw. "You have been nothing but a joy to me during my short time as your teacher. You have done nothing wrong, you understand?" Jinora nodded tearfully. "Besides," Dr. Laghima said with a mischievous smile, "even if they can take away my job, they can't keep me from speaking out. And I promise you, I will never stop speaking out."

Jinora smiled, sniffling. "Neither will I."

One of the officers came up behind Dr. Laghima and gripped one of his broad shoulders. "It's time to go."

"Just - one last moment with my dear students?" Dr. Laghima pleaded.

"Come on, Bison," the other officer spat, grabbing Dr. Laghima's other arm and pulling him towards the door.

"Dr. Laghima!" Jinora exclaimed as he was forcefully taken from her. Kai tried to run over and help Dr. Laghima, but was met by a rough shove from the nearest officer.

"They're not telling you the whole story!" Dr. Laghima yelled frantically as he was dragged away through the halls. "Remember that, children! Remember that!" Within a few minutes, they were out of the building.

Jinora turned back to Kai, eyes wide with a mixture of fear, anger, and dread. "Are you alright?" she said worriedly. Kai nodded, rubbing his shoulder.

"...He'll...he'll be fine," Kai said, trembling, his eyes mirroring the emotions in her own.

Jinora laid a hand on his arm, and they both stood in the middle of the hall in bewildered silence. "Who's going to teach history class now?" Jinora said, her voice smaller than Kai had ever heard it.

"I guess we'll find out," Kai replied grimly.

 _sudden silence, sudden heat_

Their history class started at the top of the hour, as any other day. Whisperings of Dr. Laghima's release had already circulated through the classroom, and rumours of the new professor were already beginning to make the rounds when the man himself made his noisy entrance into the room, pushing a cart with a drape-covered box-shaped object.

"Good afternoon, students!" The trenchcoat-clad figure flashed a toothy grin at the class, his curly hair sticking out in all directions.

A few reluctant murmurs of "Good morning," bubbled up from the class.

"I'm Professor Varrick, and I'll be taking over for your previous instructor!" the replacement exclaimed, unfazed in his enthusiasm. He stood behind his cart and laid his hand on the draped object. "Now, I've been told that I teach history a little differently. As you students already know, every day, with each tick of the Time Dragon Clock, in every corner of our great Oz, one hears the silence of progress. This is the true meaning of history: driving progress forward! For example," he pulled the drape off the object, which was made entirely of metal looked very much to Jinora like a portable jail cell, "this is called a cage!"

What disturbed Jinora more than the cage itself was what was inside it: a trembling Moose Lion cub, squeaking feebly, too scared to yowl in protest.

"Now, we will be seeing more and more of them in the near future!" Professor Varrick exclaimed. "This remarkable innovation - which I helped in designing, you may be surprised to know," he added with a self-satisfied smirk, "is actually for the animal's own good - "

Jinora shot up from her seat. "If this is for his own good, then why is he trembling?" she demanded. The little Moose Lion looked in her direction, still shivering in the back of its cage. She felt Kai's hand tugging at her sleeve, but she shook him off, refusing to sit down.

Professor Varrick's mustachioed smile twitched a bit. "He's just...excited to be here, that's all," he said, pulling out a pair of tongs and promptly hitting the cage with it. Both the Moose Lion and Jinora flinched at the sound. "Now as I was saying," Professor Varrick continued, "one of the benefits of caging a moose lion while it's young is that it will never, in fact, learn how to speak."

Jinora froze in horror. "...What?"

Professor Varrick ignored her, beckoning the other pupils to gather around the cart. "That's right," he said, "come closer, students!"

She turned to Kai, who was trying his hardest to hide the clear discomfort on his face. "Can you imagine a world where Animals are kept in cages? And never speak?" she whispered, still horrified.

"I don't - " Kai began, but was interrupted by Varrick's loud voice.

"Now, he may seem a bit agitated," he said, "but that's easily remedied!" Eagerly, he pulled out a large syringe.

Kai and Jinora looked at one another urgently. "What should I do?" Jinora asked.

"What can we do?" Kai replied.

Jinora's eyebrows furrowed in determination. "Well, someone has to do...something!" At the last word, a collective cry was heard from the group around the cart. Professor Varrick and the other students had lost control of their limbs, flailing wildly and spinning around the room in a troubled trance. The only unaffected beings in the room were Jinora, Kai, and the little Moose Lion, who was trembling harder than before, but now safe from any syringe.

Kai looked around at the scene unfolding before him, alarmed. "...What's happening?"

Jinora held her head in shock and embarrassment. "I don't know! I...got mad!"

Kai stood up and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Okay, just...stay here. And please, for the love of Oz, don't get mad at me," he said with a half-hearted chuckle. Jinora could only smile in reply as Kai took the cage and led her by the arm out of the room.

 _hearts leap in a giddy whirl_

They ran outside to the grounds, and broke out sprinting to get to the nearest fields. There was a wooded area that lined the end of the school's grounds, and Jinora knew it would be the best place to release the baby Moose Lion.

Jinora undid the latch and pushed the door open. "Come on, little guy," she coaxed softly. The poor thing was still terrified. "We're not going to hurt you."

Kai cautiously reached into the cage, and Jinora was amazed when the Moose Lion allowed himself to be petted. "I've always had a way with animals," he grinned. "Come on, buddy."

Slowly, the Moose Lion crawled out of the cage onto the grass. He licked Jinora's fingers as she too pet his head, and then scampered off to the woods, wagging his tail happily.

"We should get back to class before anyone realizes what's happened," Jinora said, sighing and standing up. The last thing she wanted to was face that horrible, Animal-hating Varrick man.

"Or we could skip," Kai suggested. Jinora arched an eyebrow at him. "Are we really going to learn anything in that class now? Just for today, at least. It's been a rough day."

Jinora offered a hand to help him up, and Kai took it happily. His hand was warm and soft in her own, and Jinora found herself feeling almost disappointed once he left go. Which was absurd. She fought to keep her face neutral as they walked back to the school. Why would she want to hold Kai's hand? It wasn't like she liked touching him, but then she imagined running her hands through his messy hair and her heart sped up.

She glanced at him when he wasn't looking. Would his hair be as soft as it looked? She could remember his arms around her - a hug, or during the experiment just a day ago when he had helped her hold the wand - strong and warm, and most importantly, safe.

Jinora felt her face grow hot.

"Jin?" Kai looked at her with concern, and she felt her blush deepen, his attention completely focused on her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just…" she shrugged, no words coming to mind.

Kai placed a hand on her shoulder, stooping down to look her in the eye. Jinora found herself trying not to look at his lips. "Are you sure? You look a little warm."

"A little tired, I think I'm going to go lie down," she explained, which was partially true. "I'll see you later," she promised, and turned around, her heart racing. For the love of Oz, please no…

"Jinora!" he called as she walked away, but Jinora was half-grateful, half-disappointed he didn't run after her. Somehow, she didn't think this was ordinarily the way best friends felt about each other. She hadn't been sure, seeing as she had never had a best friend before, but…

It was a relief when she reached their dorm room. Kai's side of the room was messy as always, but Jinora was well-practiced at stepping over his various articles of clothing. How did one boy have so many pairs of socks, anyway?

She found her black hat, the one Kai had given her almost three months earlier at the dance, on her desk where it usually was. She picked it up, running her fingers along the hem. Next to it sat the bumblefly comb from her father.

Once, as a child, she had asked her father about her mother. Jinora didn't ask too many questions about her mother - it made her father sad - but he had indulged in her curiosity for once. "She was a kind woman, Jinora," Tenzin had said, smiling wistfully. "Beautiful too, but kind. Good. There wasn't an ounce of wickedness in her, I swear."

"How did you know you loved Mommy?" Jinora had asked.

"Well, it was a different type of love than the one between you and me," Tenzin had explained. "It's the type of love that… that makes you feel like you can fly. The right sort of love, anyway."

"Do you still love Mommy even though she's dead?"

Tenzin had teared up. "Well, yes. Just because someone's gone doesn't mean you stop loving them."

"Do you think Ikki and I will ever love someone like that?" Jinora had asked. Looking back, it was a stupid question, made by an innocent, naive little child that had no idea how the world worked. A child that didn't know that she was an oddity, avoided at all costs and nearly impossible to love.

But her father had still smiled, and scooped her up into his lap. "I hope you both do, someday, Jinora. And I hope whoever it is loves you right back."

As Jinora had grown older, she had realized that his answer was just one made by a loving father that didn't want to disappoint his children, no matter how strange they were. Even Ikki, in all her beauty and grace, was bound to a wheelchair, which often drew more pity than love. She supposed that was why Ikki had opted to continue spending so much time with Otaku; even if she wasn't particularly fond of him, at least he was someone who cared for her for any reason other than pity.

And Jinora? The idea of someone loving her was laughable. Memories of reading about fictional heroines who would find their true love were scattered across her early adolescence, and though it was nice to daydream, she had learned quickly that really, truly hoping for what her books called "true love" was a waste of time for someone like her. Knights in shining armor didn't fall in love with green-skinned girls.

Nor did high-society boys with crooked smiles.

Becoming Kai's friend had been a wonderful accident. Learning how wrong she was about him, and how much they really had in common, had been like falling onto piles of soft cushions. As quickly as her hatred for him and come and gone, their friendship had grown. And here she was, holding the hat he'd given her, realizing just a little too late that beyond that pile of cushions was a void, one that he wouldn't be at the bottom of to catch her.

It was a little soon to tell for sure, but Jinora was too smart to deny what was happening to her any longer: she was falling for her best friend. The foolishness of it made her feel like she was both flying and sinking, and she couldn't tell if she loved it or hated it.

And knowing how foolish it was to feel what she felt for him hurt more than any snide remark or judgmental stare she'd ever received.

 _don't dream too far, don't lose sight of who you are_

The way his heart sank as he watched her leave was a moment of clarity. Like, for the first time, he was truly seeing things for what they were. Like the curtains were being opened on his emotions and everything was too clear for him to ignore.

Kai knew he had a reputation for his conduct with young women. "There's that Kai Upland," his associates back home in Gilliken had always said. "A new girl on his arm every week." And, admittedly, it wasn't entirely untrue; he didn't try to hurt anyone, but he knew he was charming, handsome, and rich, and he supposed the attention that it earned him had been enough for him for a while. Before Jinora, he hadn't been one for elaborate conversation. He'd always been written off as stupid, or lazy or shallow, or some trust-funder riding the coattails of his parents' wealth. Maybe he'd allowed himself to fall into that role. So making any true friends had been more difficult than he supposed it really should have been.

Then...Jinora had come along. With her no-nonsense attitude that later revealed itself to be driven by passion, ambition, and empathy for those on the fringes of society. And, against all odds, she'd befriended him. Made him see himself as more than just a spoiled, lazy rich boy. And made him see the world as more than just his lonely little playground.

Of course the first person that would make him see everything for what it could be would be the first person he'd ever truly fall for.

The revelation somehow wasn't as surprising as he'd thought it would be. Like any other kid, he'd heard stories of how falling in love was like having the world turn on its head, but this just felt like the moment of clarity that came from putting the final piece of the puzzle in its place. Of course, it also felt like soaring, but he supposed his head had been in the clouds long before he'd even realized he had taken off.

It also felt a little like catching his foot in a door. Yes, she was by no means well-liked (unfairly so, he thought, but it was what it was) or praised for her beauty (a crying shame, really; he couldn't believe that no one else had noticed the way her smile brightened up a room or how her brown eyes sparkled when she was happy), she had a way of coming across as angry and unapproachable, and she ranted so much that he used to wonder if she ever let anyone else talk, but she was also brave, strong, smart, and unbelievably kind. Ultimately, she was a much better person than he could honestly say he was.

And that was why the idea of her returning his feelings seemed so ridiculous. She deserved someone that was strong enough to stand beside her. Not someone who'd gone through life so careless and insecure.

He kicked a rock around as he walked, wondering how he'd face her now that he realized just how fond he was of her. Maybe everything could stay the same. Maybe he wouldn't have to humiliate himself in front of the person he had grown to love most.

It was scary, in a way. Kai had never planned ahead, or had any real plans for his future. He hadn't needed them after all, content to float through life on his parents' money, but now… Now he wanted a future with Jinora, as a friend at least, and he knew he'd be content. It was the one thing he knew he wanted. And with Jinora, maybe they could change Oz for the better. Maybe they could bring Dr. Laghima and all the Animals back. Maybe she'd love him.

He stopped in his tracks and released a short, resolute sigh, before turning to go back to his dorm. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

 _don't remember that rush of joy_

Kai didn't see Jinora until later that evening, when she shut the door, kicked off her boots, and collapsed onto her bed.

"Hey," Kai said softly, trying to smile at her nonchalantly.

"Hey," Jinora replied. Then came the first moment of awkward silence between them in a good while.

"So," he tried, "are you...feeling better?"

Jinora nodded in her reclined position. "Yeah. I just needed to clear my head. I visited Ikki and we went to an ice cream shop together. It was nice to see my sister again."

"Oh, yeah!" Kai said, thankful for something to talk about. "How is she doing? I heard she and Otaku were dating."

Jinora snorted and Kai was almost relieved to hear the familiar sound of her scoffing laughter. "It's more like Otaku's trying to date Ikki and she doesn't really know what to do about it, but as rumours go, I guess that one's still not too far off."

Kai chuckled a bit forcefully, and he felt like hitting his head against a wall for how unnatural it sounded. Get it together, Upland. "She doesn't like him?"

"It seems more like she doesn't know how to like him," Jinora said simply. She turned to him with a sad, shy smile. "We Thropp girls have no idea how to do romance."

Kai gulped, thinking of how much he wanted to show her and learn with her, before pushing the thought away and saying, "Well, I hope everything works out with them. I think Otaku really likes her."

"Yeah." There was another awkward silence before Kai allowed himself to fall back onto his own bed.

"Hey, Jinora?" he said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?" Her voice was soft, low, and gentle, and Kai found himself relaxing into its sound.

He turned his head toward her. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," Jinora said, turning onto her side to face him, "why wouldn't I be?"

"Just...checking," Kai said, looking away as he blushed.

"Okay," Jinora said. "And...are you okay?"

"What? Yeah," Kai said, a little too quickly. "It's just been a really long day, you know?"

Jinora hummed in agreement, then rolled over on her back once more. He found himself watching the way her chest rose and fell with each breath, before breaking the silence once more.

"Jinora?" he said.

"Yes, Kai?"

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Of course."

Kai smiled. "Good. I just want you to know that you're my best friend and I care a lot about you. And...I don't want anything to change that."

Jinora turned over to look at him again. Her smile didn't seem to quite reach her eyes, and Kai wondered if he'd managed to say something wrong. "I care about you, too," she said softly. Then, rolling over onto her back once more, she said teasingly and a little more forcefully, "Now go to sleep, dork."

He chuckled and faced the ceiling once more. "Goodnight, Jin."

"Night, Kai." The silence that followed somehow felt emptier than ever.


	8. One Short Day

Chapter Eight: One Short Day

"The Wizard…asked for me, personally?"

Madame Hou-Ting had asked Jinora into her private office after their seminar, saying that she had good news. Never in her wildest dreams had Jinora thought it would be something as big as an official invitation from the Wizard, embossed with his seal. She could barely contain her excitement, and couldn't help but bounce on the balls of her feet.

"I know how devastated you were when I had to release Dr. Laghima a few months ago, but as I always say, where one door closes, another opens!"

Jinora stared at the invitation with a mix of disbelief and delight.

"I…I don't know what to say!" She looked up at the headmistress, ecstasy easing her grudge against her for firing her favourite professor. "Madame, how could I ever thank you?" Unable to contain herself, she wrapped the woman in an overjoyed hug.

To her surprise, Madame Hou-Ting eagerly hugged her back. "You can make me proud, Miss Thropp."

Jinora pulled away from the hug and looked at Madame Hou-Ting with a determined smile. "I will."

 _i think we've found the place where we belong_

The week passed in the blink of an eye, and before she could stop to notice it, Jinora found herself waiting at the train station to depart for Emerald City, holding onto the hem of her hat with one hand. She hoped Kai would make it in time to say goodbye. Things had been a little weird between them the past month, but Jinora had figured the best way to deal with her newfound feelings for him would be to ignore them. And so far, it had worked. They had laughed and joked and carried on as they always had, for the most part. Sometimes, she caught herself staring, and it was even more embarrassing when _he_ caught her staring, but they were still best friends. Nothing, and somehow everything, had changed all at once.

As amazing as the Emerald City would be, Jinora knew she'd miss Kai dearly. They had been apart a week or so over winter break, which had been brutal, but the letters they'd exchanged had made her bearable. Jinora was sure Kai would have tried to visit, as his parents were pretty busy, even around the holidays, if he wasn't so scared of her father, Tenzin. The old man had a nasty glare for any boys that came near his daughters, and Jinora wondered what Tenzin had thought was happening between her and Kai, because there was absolutely nothing, she thought sadly. They were best friends, nothing more.

The train would be arriving in another ten or so minutes, Jinora noted, checking her watch, when a voice rang out, "Sorry for being late, Jin!"

A grin spread across her face as Kai nearly ran into her. He stopped a few inches short and she couldn't help the way her eyes flicked up to his lips and then away again as he took a step back, the young man slightly out of breath.

"You wouldn't believe the traffic," Kai gave her an apologetic smile. "But I wanted to make sure I came to say goodbye. You'll have an amazing time, future magic grand vizier."

"Kai," she chuckled, "We don't know that for sure."

"Well I do," Kai insisted. "Make sure to write me a letter every day, okay?" A more serious look came across his face. "I'm gonna miss you," he rubbed the back of his neck, flushing.

Jinora's heart fluttered and she beamed back at him. "I'm going to miss you too…" she trailed off when an idea struck her. "Hey Kai, come with me to the Emerald City." She took his hands in her own, giving them an excited squeeze.

Kai's face lit up. "I've always wanted to see the Emerald City," he admitted. "You know what, why not? I'll make a call to Shiz once we're there. Besides, what better way to explore the city than with my best friend?" He wrapped his arms around her in a quick hug, and it took a few moments for Jinora to reciprocate. Her heart was pounding so loudly she was sure he could hear it.

"We'll have to go shopping once we're there," Kai said, pulling away. Jinora felt a pang of disappointment when he let go of her. "I'll get new clothes and a toothbrush and stuff. And you'll need a dress for your meeting with the Wizard."

"Kai, you don't have to-"

"You're forgetting three important things, Jin. One: I'm filthy rich. And two: you're my friend and I want to. And three: consider this another birthday present."

Jinora, feeling particularly emboldened by the joy that seemed to lifting her up, raised her head and pecked Kai on the cheek. It was only a for a few seconds, but her lips still tingled once she pulled away. Kai was blushing furiously, but Jinora didn't see, turning at the sound of a shrill, high-pitched whistle to watch the train roll in. Part of her didn't want to see his reaction, but part of her longed to turn around and see. However, Kai managed to keep his goofy smile to a minimum, even if he was sure he wasn't going to be able to stop smiling for at least the next ten hours.

He grabbed Jinora's hand to help her onto the train with her luggage, mingling along with other passengers. Some of them stared at Jinora's green skin, and met Kai's glower in response. His glare faded once Jinora tugged him into a seat.

"I'm so excited," she said, almost glowing with happiness. "I've dreaming of this ever since I came to Shiz, ever since I was born, really… I'm going to meet the Wizard!"

Kai grinned, thinking how much he wanted to capture this moment in a bottle. Her joy was contagious, and the way she seemed to glow reminded him of springtime. After this one short day of enjoyment, she would see the Wizard, and Kai knew that if he was as smart and wonderful as everyone said he was, the Wizard would take her on immediately. Soon, Jinora would take off and soar.

And Kai couldn't help but feel grateful that he'd be there to see it.

 _for today, we'll wander and enjoy_

The Ozmopolitan Dress Emporium was the biggest dress salon either of them had seen, walls lined with brightly coloured gowns for every occasion. There were even shelves of ornate accessories scattered across the room, and an entire second floor bursting with even more choices.

Jinora immediately turned to Kai, breathless and overwhelmed. "I clash with at least 95% of thisstore. I seriously don't need a new dress."

"No offense, Jin, but your wardrobe doesn't exactly have anything that's appropriate for a meeting with the Wizard," Kai gave her an encouraging smile. "We can start off with black, okay, and work our way from there."

Jinora rolled her eyes, but had long stopped suppressing smiles around Kai. "Fine," she said, following him through the rows of gowns.

 _there are wonders like i've never seen_

After nearly an hour scouring the emporium for the right dresses, there were only two they found that Jinora liked ("That looks more like a burnt cake than a dress," Jinora had said to the rest of Kai's suggestions). When Jinora tried on the first, she decided that the material was a little too thin and the hem a little too long, so Kai was left waiting outside the changing room, holding onto the rejected dress till an assistant came over to put it away for him.

Then, Jinora stepped out in the second dress, and Kai's heart leapt into his throat.

She'd been hesitant about trying it on at first, as the beaded embroidery was more extravagant than she was used to, but after passing it about five times, she finally decided to try it on "just for fun," and anyway, she liked the high lace neckline.

And Kai was glad she did. Glimmering in black from neck to toe, she somehow looked more regal. It was like someone had taken the sparkle in her eyes and sewn it into a dress.

It hit him all at once how beautiful she was - glittering black on soft apple green, with her brown eyes warm, kind, and brave - and felt like he'd jammed his foot even harder into the proverbial door.

"I knew it, it's too much," Jinora sighed, beginning to turn back into the changing room.

"No! Wait!" Kai yelled a little too loudly, surprising himself, Jinora, and everyone within the vicinity. "I mean - " Kai sputtered, embarrassed, " - it's fine. Really. It's great."

Jinora raised an eyebrow at him. "But you were staring," she said, a darker green dusting her cheeks.

"I was?" He mentally slapped himself on the forehead. "I mean, yeah, I guess I was, I mean…" He laughed at himself. Who knew he'd be tongue-tied over the green girl he'd made fun of just months before?

"Are you laughing at me?" Jinora asked, crossing her arms.

"No! I'm laughing at me. I mean - " he shook his head at himself, and took both of Jinora's hands into his own. "You look beautiful. It's perfect."

Her cheeks flushed a deep shade of emerald, and she slipped one of her hands out of his to tuck a loose strand of hair back. Still, she smiled at him gratefully, and he was glad when she didn't turn her gaze away from his. "Thank you," she said softly, "for everything."

It would have been so easy to lean down and kiss her, he realized. And he seriously considered it, watching the light in her eyes tremble ever so slightly. For a moment, it almost looked like she might feel what he felt for her, even just a little. Enough to maybe want him, too.

But then he remembered that they were in a dress shop in Emerald City, and there were people around them, and she was his best friend who was destined for much greater than he ever would be, and the Wizard's future grand vizier deserved so much better than him.

So when she freed her other hand from his and broke their gaze, he didn't stop her. And when they left the building, joking as they normally did, it was almost as if that single moment in the dress shop had never happened. Part of him wanted to test the waters, to see if that look in her eyes wasn't just a flicker of his own wishful thinking. But seeing the hopeful look in her face as she surveyed the city, and the way she smiled up at him with such peace and bliss, reminded him over and over that this day was bigger than him.

She would be extraordinary. She was already extraordinary. And he would always just be…Kai. What would a girl like her see in someone like him?

He wasn't sure if anything hurt more than this silent, hopeless yearning.

 _we're just two friends, two good friends, two best friends_

The Emerald City Library was more than Jinora had ever dared to hope for. Books were stacked from floor to ceiling, each different sizes. Some were new, and some were old, and all were stacked upon beautiful oak shelves. A spiral staircase of marble connected each floor, and each floor was carpeted with a deep grassy green. Lime green cushions and chairs were scattered across each level.

"I could spend forever in here," Jinora breathed, enchanted by her surroundings. She walked over to the closest book case and trailed her fingers along the spines, pulling out a thick volume. She turned around to show the cover to Kai. "Look, they even have _The Sky Dancers_ here!"

"Are you looking for anything in particular?" Kai asked, eyes gleaming with amusement. He had never seen Jinora so happy. And despite his romantic failings, Kai could never remember being happier either. Jinora's joy was infectious, and Kai figured as long as she was happy, he would be too.

"Where would I even begin?" she said in a hushed, excited voice. "I could probably find the last book of that one series I was obsessed with when I was ten, or hunt down some poetry collections that my father's so fond of - wait," she said, immediately turning to Kai. "Was there any book you liked growing up?"

"I already told you, I was never a big reader," Kai said.

Jinora placed a hand on her hip. "Come on. There has to be some book you can remember. Even if it was just read to you as a child?"

Kai looked around for a moment, then back to Jinora. "There was a book my mom loved reading to me as a kid. It was called _The Red String_. From what I remember, it was about this pair of lovers that were somehow always torn apart, but their shared fate and strong connection always kept them coming back together." He laughed half-heartedly and rubbed the back of his his neck, flushing ever so slightly. "It probably sounds really cheesy, but my mom loved it a lot."

"No," Jinora said quickly, "it sounds beautiful." Beckoning him to follow her, they both scoured each floor thoroughly, sometimes with Jinora getting distracted by another book before moving on, until they finally found an old, well-worn copy on the fourth floor. She ran her fingers over the brittle old spine. The cover was red, with a black silhouette of two people with their backs to each other, yet their hands were still linked, a thin red string binding their fingers together.

She turned to Kai and handed the book to him, only for Kai to hand it back. "Read to me?" he requested.

Jinora gave him a tiny smile and opened the book. "It is said," she read aloud, "that a string of red fate connects us to our soulmate, and while the string can become tangled or knotted, it can never break. It may connect us to our best friend, or the person we find the least likely to ever be remotely important to us. But you cannot deny fate, no more than you can deny love."

As she spoke more of the story came rushing back to him - reincarnation and unfortunate circumstances, second, third, fourth chances. It wasn't exactly a happy book, but Kai found it more enjoyable than when he was a child. The way the man in the story felt about his beloved, well… Kai found himself comparing it to the way he felt about Jinora, and more than a few things matched.

And as she read, Jinora couldn't stop her thoughts from wandering, from imagining Kai and herself in place of the protagonists, and that pesky ache in her chest throbbed once more. Yet a part of her had to wonder about the moment in the dress shop - surely it had been more than just her imagination? And it hadn't even stopped there. Every time she glanced back to him between paragraphs, she caught him looking at her so wistfully, reddening a bit every time she caught him, but never looking away. And The Red String made her wonder if they could be like the characters in the book. After all, they'd both gone from insignificant parts of one another's lives to easily one of the most important, and just like the characters, societal conventions did make the idea of them rather complicated. Granted, the woman in the story was beautiful and powerful, and she was…well, green, but did that really have to get in her way? It wasn't wrong to say that they had a connection. After all, even the most heated of prejudices hadn't stopped them from forming a close friendship, and each step they took together felt like that bond was just growing stronger. Maybe there was an invisible red string connecting them, too.

Then she thought back to every time someone avoided her, or whispered cruel words about her, and she was brought back to reality.

 _Wishful thinking doesn't suit me_ , she thought to herself as she read aloud, _and I suppose there's a reason that red clashes with green_.

Still, she couldn't stop herself from hoping that maybe, once she had been accepted by the Wizard, and her dreams of being his partner had been realized, things could be different for her and Kai.

They stayed seated by the book's shelf until Jinora glanced at the clock on the wall. "We're going to be late!" she exclaimed, eyes widening with panic. Of course on the one day when punctuality mattered more than anything, she would be late.

"We can finish the book some other time, then," Kai said as they rushed towards the exit, Jinora giving him a quick nod.

They sprinted down the street, Jinora holding onto the hem of her black hat to make sure it didn't fly away. They made it onto the train just in time, the doors shutting as soon as the last of Jinora's dress made it through.

"Thank goodness," Jinora panted, staggering as the train started to move. Kai steadied her, placing a hand on her arms, and then quickly removed them. "I can't believe it…" Jinora said faintly, once they had gotten their seats. It had taken them at least fifteen minutes to find some, as the train was very crowded, and Jinora wondered if any on the people were going to see the Wizard. She was going to see the Wizard. She anxiously drummed her fingers on the rim of her hat, which was lying on her lap. "We're going to meet the Wizard. _I'm_ going to meet _the Wizard_."

Kai grinned at her, and grabbed her hand and laced his fingers through hers. "You are. And you're going to be fine." He took her hat and put it on her head.

"Thank you, Kai," she said gratefully, giving his hand a squeeze. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "For everything." She smiled nervously at him, as a heavy blush spread over his cheeks, and Kai beamed back at her.

Maybe she truly wasn't imagining it at all. Her heart seemed to soar, and for a moment Jinora felt like she was flying away from all the sadness she had ever experienced - her life was going to change for the better, and she had Kai from her side.

Absolutely nothing could ever spoil this day for her.


	9. The Wizard

Chapter 9: The Wizard

 _i'd like to raise you high, 'cause i think everyone deserves a chance to fly_

Kai could feel Jinora shaking, her hand tightly gripped in his, as they sat in the waiting hall of the Wizard's Palace, passing the time they had left before the Wizard himself would be ready to see them.

"Shh, you'll be great," he said, giving her hand an extra squeeze.

"I don't even know what he wants!" she chattered on. "He might have me do some spells. Oh no, what if he asks me to do something I've never done before? I'm just a first-year sorcery student who's still got a few months to go before the term ends! Wait, what if there's a test? I didn't study for anything, and what would I even have studied - "

"Jinora!" Kai interrupted. "Look at me."

She turned a little to face him. "I've waited for this moment my whole life. What am I supposed to do?"

"Do nothing," Kai replied, taking her other hand. "Just be yourself. You've been training for this since the day I met you." He smiled a little. Had it really been almost seven months ago this amazing young woman had entered his life?

She took a shaky breath and nodded. "Alright. I can do this."

He grinned. "See? That's the spirit."

She chuckled just a tad forcefully, still undeniably nervous. "Thanks for coming with me," she said. "I'm really glad you're here."

His smile and eyes softened, and Jinora almost couldn't believe that this person she'd been determined to hate mere months ago had become the person she wanted with her most now.

"What are best friends for?" he said with a grin. His green eyes met hers, and for the first time in her life, she found herself thinking that green was a truly beautiful colour. Her eyes flickered down to his lips, and she began to lean in slightly. Was it just her imagination or was Kai doing the same?

"The Wizard will see you now!" The guard startled her out of her trance and she glanced away, thoroughly flustered.

She stood up abruptly, releasing her hold on Kai's hands. Her hands felt strangely empty without them. "Yes, sir. Thank you."

She and Kai exchanged one last nervous, excited glance before they walked through the doors to the Wizard's meeting room. The guard closed the door behind them. The sound was loud in the large, relatively empty room they had entered. There was a green, long carpet that led to a strange contraption - a large, metal face, with glass eyes. Jinora was almost tempted to reach out and touch it before the eyes flashed green and the head moved. She jumped back, just barely suppressing a surprised yelp.

"I am Oz, the great and terrible! Who are you, and why do you seek me?" the metal face bellowed, its jaw moving up and down, its eyes flashing with bright lights.

Jinora froze, and it was Kai grabbing her hand that gave her the courage to speak. "I'm Jinora Thropp, your wonderfulness."

Then she heard the last thing she expected: a man's voice, mellow with age, and half-laughing.

"Oh! Is that you, Jinora? I didn't realize!" A short, balding man in a long coat came out from behind the mechanical head. He was plump and getting on in years, around Tenzin's age, maybe a bit younger, with a round face and a wide grin. "Dear me, I hope I didn't frighten you. People tend to expect this sort of thing." He patted the metal head fondly. "And like I always say, you have to give the people what they want. The thing is, I hardly ever let people meet the real me, but this being a special occasion, I wanted to make an exception." He smiled kindly. "It is so good to finally meet you, Jinora. I've heard so many good things about you."

Her face split into a wide, starstruck smile. "And it's a pleasure to meet you! I'm so happy to have gotten this chance, your Wizardship." She stood there grinning in total bliss for a moment longer before she remembered whose hand she was still holding. "Oh! I almost forgot," she exclaimed, releasing Kai's hand and gesturing to him, "this is my friend, Kai. He's here for support."

Kai stuck out his hand and the Wizard shook it. "It's an honour to meet you, sir."

"It's wonderful to meet you as well, m'boy," the Wizard said, smiling. "I've heard a lot about Miss Jinora over here, and any friend of hers is a friend of mine."

Jinora's heart swelled. Finally, _finally_ , after years of teasing and bullying and loneliness, finally with the boy she loved by her side, _finally_ , she was here with the Wizard. Everything would be alright.

"I'm afraid we're not just here for ourselves, though, your Ozness," Jinora said. "It's come to our attention that something horrible has been happening to the animals. We did an experiment, that proved an animal's essence of consciousness is the same as a human's, you see and-"

"I already know that, of course," the Wizard said. "I'm the wonderful Wizard of Oz. I know everything, my dear. The foundings of your experiment don't surprise me at all. In fact, I know that according to Madame Hou-Ting, you're quite the accomplished sorceress."

Jinora blushed. "I'm not that good-"

"She is," Kai cut in. "She's really good."

"I have no doubt!" the Wizard said. "Of course, I would like to see you in action."

Jinora's heart pounded in her ears and her mind raced. "Y-yes, sir! Um...what would you like me to do?"

The Wizard paused for a minute, tapping his nose in thought. "Why, I have a little lemur, and every day he looks so longingly at the sky. It would be a wonderful thing, to give him wings. Everyone deserves a chance to fly, don't you think?"

Jinora swallowed nervously, her hand finding Kai's for reassurance. Levitation, flight spells, were her speciality, even if she had never attempted giving an animal wings before.

Then the Wizard smiled encouragingly at her, looked over his shoulder, and called out, "Madame, could you bring the book over here?"

Jinora was surprised to see Madame Hou-Ting bustling towards them, a thick leather bound book in her hands. A small white lemur with bat-like ears and green eyes scampered after her. "I haven't had the chance to tell them of my new position, press secretary to the Wizard himself. Now Jinora my dear, this is a very special book."

Jinora gasped again as Madame Hou-Ting handed her the book. "Is this the…?"

"The Grimmerie?" Madame Hou-Ting finished giving Jinora small smile. "Yes. An ancient book of spells, a lost language. Now don't be discourage if you can't decipher it," she continued, as Jinora opened the book and began pouring over it. "I myself can only read a few sentences."

Jinora was astonished as the words flowed out of her mouth. The words just clicked, like pieces of a puzzle in her mind. " _Ahven tatey, aven tatey aven..._ "

"Why Momo, what an experience you're about to have!" the Wizard said joyfully, looking at the tiny lemur in excitement. Momo tilted his head in confusion as Jinora continued chanting, and then a look of pain spread over the animal's face.

Momo let out a loud yelp of pain, and Jinora stopped chanting. She looked worriedly to the Wizard. "What's happening?" she cried. She brought her hands to her chest, gripping them fearfully as Momo continued to yowl in pain.

"It's just a transition," the Wizard assured her, but her fears weren't quelled.

"It's hurting him!" she despaired, looking to Kai, who looked just as distressed. "Make it stop!"

Leathery, bat-like wings were sprouting out of the lemur's arms, stretching to his fingers.

"I can't," the Wizard said. "The spells in the book are irreversible."

"I told you she had the power," Madame Hou-Ting said happily. "And look, the other lemurs, they're growing wings as well." More of the animals were scurrying along the walls towards them, writhing in pain as their wings grew.

Jinora felt tears prick in her eyes. Oz above, what had she done? Kai wrapped an arm around her, and she turned into him for comfort.

"They'll make excellent spies," Madame Hou-Ting said.

Kai looked at her sharply. "What do you mean by spies?" he said, his voice growing slightly angry. "Did you plan this?"

"Well, we hoped… and spies is a harsh word. They'll be more like scouts. We need some way to keep the Animals in their place, don't we?" The Wizard gave them a strained smile. "But you'll benefit too - Jinora, the greatest sorcerer in Oz. And Kai, you can rise through the ranks too-"

"You've been lying to me," Jinora said softly, looking at the Wizard as if seeing him for the first time. Her fists shook. "You've been lying to all of Oz. You're the one who's been ruining all the Animals' lives! And _I was going to help you_ …" She scoffed, her magic feeling tainted. She felt sick to her stomach. She had believed in him, put all her dreams on him, and the Wizard, he had lied. Cheated. "You can't read this book, can you? You have no real power. That's why you need me."

"I do need you, Jinora, and think of what you can be," the Wizard said imploringly. "You can have all you ever wanted."

Jinora stared at him, shaking her head slowly. "No. I'll tell everyone the truth." In a swift motion, she bent and scooped up the book and ran out of the room.

"Jinora, no!" Kai called after her. He turned back to Madame Hou-Ting and the Wizard. "Please, just give her a moment, she's not thinking rationally at the moment. I can talk her down."

Without another word, Kai ran after her, leaving the two people he thought they could trust behind.


	10. Defying Gravity

Chapter 10: Defying Gravity

 _it's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap_

"Jinora?" Kai called softly. He had been able to hear her running and had followed the noise of her footsteps - she had run up at least two flights of stairs. They were somewhere near the top of the palace now, in a dark and gloomy room, only source of light coming from a large window near the ceiling. He could hear her crying. "Jinora." His heart broke at the sight of her, curled up in a ball and shaking.

"D-did you see the pain on their faces? The lemurs?" she said shakily. "I did that. _I hurt them_ , Kai."

"It wasn't your fault -"

"It was my fault," she cut him off, standing up. "It was, Kai. My words. My decision. It hurt them. I never want to do that again. And the Wizard - you saw him, he's a liar!"

Kai took hold of her arms. "Jinora. Look at me." Her eyes trembled, this time with fear and anger instead of the joy that had emanated from her less than an hour ago. "This isn't your fault, okay?"

Madame Hou-Ting's voice echoed from a loudspeaker through the thin, drafty walls. "Citizens of Oz! There is an enemy that must be found and captured. Believe nothing she says. She's evil; responsible for the mutilation of these poor, innocent lemurs! Her green skin is but an outward manifestation of her twisted nature! This repulsion, this distortion, this… _Wicked Witch_!"

Kai stared at Jinora in horror. She was shaking, her black hat discarded on the floor. "Jin, don't be afraid."

Jinora smiled, but there was no humour in it. "I'm not. It's the Wizard who should be afraid. Of me."

"We can go back and talk to them. We can try to reason with him," Kai begged for her to understand. "The Wizard's done a lot of good stuff, too. Please don't throw away everything we worked for… everything you've ever wanted."

"But I don't want it," Jinora said, her voice rising in strength. "No. I can't want it anymore." Something had changed within her. Something was not the same. The hopeless longing for people to love her, for the Wizard too, had been replaced with something else: a strength, a fury, an independence. She couldn't let her place as an outcast be changed when she knew others were still suffering.

"Jin, please-"

"I can't, Kai. I can't." She knew she couldn't go back. She had reached the point of no return. Now that she knew the truth, she couldn't go back to her ignorance. It was too late to go back to sleep. She grabbed an old broom, using it to keep the door in place.

She looked at Kai as she turned back around, now begging for him to understand. "For so long, I've been afraid of losing love," she said sadly, her voice shaking. "But if that's love… it comes at much too high a cost."

She couldn't take the Wizard's offer, even if that meant saying goodbye to whatever hopes she had of her and Kai being something more. Even if that meant leaving behind whatever was between them.

Kai frowned at her, his eyes shining with tears. How could she do this to him? How could she be so willing to leave him behind? He swallowed hard. But he knew her, he knew how she would never be able to let this go, even if she could let go of him.

But maybe, he could find a way to change her mind. "Jinora, I lov-"

There was a loud knocking sound: guards banging on the trap door. "Open this door, in the name of his Supreme Ozness!" one of them demanded.

Jinora didn't even spare them a glance, opening the book of spells instead. Here was the one she was looking for. She muttered quietly to herself, and Kai stared at her, a tear sliding down his cheek. She was really serious about this, wasn't she?

When nothing happened, Kai ventured bravely, "Maybe you're not as powerful as you think you are." Maybe he could still convince her to stay.

They watched as the broom from the door floated over to her outstretched hand. Jinora gripped the handle with a kind of mad triumph. She looked back at him, a desperate look in her eyes. "Come with me."

"Jin-" his voice broke. "Jinora, I-"

"Think of what we could do, Kai, _together_ ," she pleaded, her breathing hitching. "Unlimited. We'd be unlimited. Just you and I…" she took his hand in her own. "Defying gravity."

It sounded so sweet, but… Kai glanced back at the door. His future had just been starting to make sense. Now, it was all in pieces and he wasn't sure which ones to pick up. Every time he had ever taken a risk, he knew he had something to fall back on. But this time, if he fell, he'd hit the cold hard ground, and he… He had never been the brave one, really. Kai gave her hand a squeeze.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked hesitantly. He was so scared, not of hearing the answer, but of being forced to live with it.

"Positive," Jinora answered, even as her voice trembled.

"Then I hope you're happy," he managed out. He couldn't tell her he loved her. Not now, when he knew she was leaving. When he had chosen his path, even though he knew he'd never stop loving her. He'd never stop being her friend. No matter where this path took her. No matter where his path took him."Now that you're choosing this." He picked up her hat and placed it on her head, handing her an old cloak that was hanging off a dusty chair and fastening the clasp.

Jinora smiled tearfully, her eyes crinkling, drawing herself up to her full height. "You too. I hope it brings you bliss. I really hope you get it-"

"And you don't live to regret it," he finished, managing to smile one last time, for her.

Jinora leaned in and pressed her lips against his, caught up in the fact that it really was now or never. She was almost afraid of how brash she was being with her emotions running so high, and she nearly pulled away in fear when she felt Kai's arms wrap around her, not only accepting, but returning the kiss eagerly, his lips firm against hers. The realization that he felt the same threatened to overwhelm her, and it might have, if there wasn't another loud knock at the door and she remembered where she was and what she had to do. She pulled away regretfully, almost unable to look up at his face, but she managed to meet his eyes and he simply stared back at her. Kai wanted to say something - anything - when the door burst open and guards swarmed the room. Jinora retreated into the shadows, her broomstick clutched tightly in her hands.

"Where's the witch?" the guard demanded, seizing Kai's arm. Kai stayed silent. "Where is she?"

Jinora thought of the Wizard, of his treachery, and betrayal. She thought of her sister; Ikki would be fine, in the end. She thought of Kai, and refused to let him take the blame for her choices. She thought of every single mean comment, everyone who had tried to tell her she was nothing. She would do more than step up to the plate. She would fly.

She rose in the air on her broomstick, rising out of the gloom and into the light streaming out of an open window. "He has nothing to do with it!" she declared. Her eyes met Kai's, brown meeting green, and it strengthened her resolve. "I'm the one you want! IT'S ME!"

She stretched out her hand, and the glass of the window shattered. She zoomed through on her broomstick, many citizens of the Emerald City looking and pointing at her. She could see the Wizard and Madame Hou-Ting on one of the palace's balconies, staring up at her in horror.

"Guards, stop her!" Madame Hou-Ting shrieked.

A legion of guards was blocking Jinora's way out of the city, but she pressed on ahead anyway. With a flick of her wrist the guards were shoved into the sidewalks of the city, as though by some invisible source, clearing her path. Spears were tossed high up into the air, but none so much as grazed her.

Jinora was unstoppable, as she swerved her broom to a halt, high above the city, yet still close enough so everyone would be able to hear. "So if you care to find me, look to the western skies. As someone told me lately," she shouted, glaring in the Wizard's direction, "everyone deserves the chance to fly!"

And even if she was flying solo, she was flying free. Nobody was grounding her. Nobody ever would.

"And nobody, in all of Oz," she declared, her chest heaving. "No Wizard that there is or was, is ever gonna bring me down!" With that, she shot off into the clouds, a green vision in black.

Kai looked on from his place in the dank little attic, feeling more alone than he'd ever felt, but also far more proud. He remembered the kiss Jinora had given him, soft and warm and so quick.

"I hope you're happy," he muttered, wiping his eyes.

He didn't know where they would go from here, but he knew, he just wanted her to be happy.

 _and no one's gonna bring me down_

The next few days were a blur. Kai could vaguely remember accepting the Wizard's job offer as a sorcerer and spokesperson once he graduated. He could remember gossip flooding the streets, whispers of "wicked" and "witch", and while he never actually heard them say Jinora's name, there was no question as to who they were talking about.

He walked into the Emerald City Library solemnly. Somehow, the towering bookshelves and touches of green seemed much less grand than they had before. Had that really been only a week ago, when he had walked in with Jinora, and thought maybe they had their own red string?

He walked over to the librarian and requested the book they had started to read. It looked like he'd have to finish it on his own now.


	11. Thank Goodness

Chapter 11: Thank Goodness **  
**

 _save us from the wicked_ **  
**

Whispers traveled through the crowd gathered in the heart of Emerald City. For the past three years, it was all anyone could talk about, at the forefront of Ozian anxiety: the Wicked Witch of the West.

In a relatively short amount of time, she'd become more of a legend than an actual person, her name and face unknown. When people spoke of her, they could only picture that green-and-black figure in the sky, on a broom, sometimes cackling to herself. Popular, Wizard-supported artists had latched onto this, drawing unflattering caricatures of an old, green, warted woman, and had given permission for them to be used on various anti-Animal propaganda.

The Wicked Witch of the West, for all the fear she struck into the hearts of Ozians, had managed to bring everyone closer together. Her appearances, swift as they were, created more gossip throughout the land than any subversive Animal activity before her.

So far, two things had been of main importance to the people of Oz: the Wizard and their fear of the Wicked Witch of the West.

That day, a third would be added to the list: the Wizard's spokesperson, Kai Upland, was going to make his first official appearance as new Captain of the Guard.

As much as the Wicked Witch of the West had risen in infamy, Kai had risen in popularity, as he was first introduced to the people by the Wizard as the first sorcerer to work alongside him personally, and as a spokesperson to spread hope in light of recent events. He was almost something of a legend himself, though more accessible to the people; they talked of his accomplishments ("He was made a sorcerer during his first year out of university and graduated a year after that!"), his character ("He's so kind and charming to everyone"), and, of course, his good looks ("Isn't he handsome? It's so lucky he's a bachelor!"). Just as he had been during his short days at Shiz, Kai was well-loved among the citizens of Oz, their shining savior in times of need.

When Kai walked out on the press balcony of the Wizard's Palace with Press Secretary Hou-Ting behind him, there was a loud cheer, to which Kai smiled humbly.

"Thank you," he said into the microphone, his voice low and clear, "for taking time out of your day to come celebrate this joyous occasion with me. I'm honored to be your new Captain of the Guard." Another cheer arose, and he paused accordingly. "I know this has been a terrifying time in Ozianhistory, but I want you to be rest assured that our Wizard is more than a match for the Wicked Witch of the West."

The words left a bitter taste in his mouth, even as he smiled. In the beginning, Kai had tried to spread some form of the truth, but there was no one who would believe anything other than what the Wizard said. Faced with being left to the same fate as Jinora, as a fugitive, cowardice had taken over him, and Kai had gone along with the Wizard's plan. And now, even though he regretted his choice to do so - regretted not leaving with Jinora when she had offered, because he had just been too scared; Jinora had always been the brave one - he found himself unable to leave. The crowds adored him, looked up to him. He had made something of himself. Something good.

But every time he thought of Jinora - which, after three years, was still far too often - it was difficult to breathe. Perhaps staying in the Emerald City, full of green, had not been the best choice. Kai wasn't sure what he was more scared of: that he wouldn't forget the way her laughter sounded, the way her lips had been so soft and warm against his, or that he would. He didn't know which was more painful.

"I became Captain of the Guard to find her," Kai said. "I can promise you I will."

And he meant it, though not the way he was sure the citizens of Oz were taking it. After a few months under the Wizard's direct authority, he came to learn that becoming Captain of the Guard - leading the very group that was now bent on hunting Jinora down - was the only way he could seek her out while staying under the radar. It was possibly the only kind of rebellion Kai had left in himself after years of working in the very same system of oppression that had caused his best friend to take to the skies, but somehow, it made him feel rooted in who he was before that first meeting with the Wizard so many years before. It gave him a sense of humanity in the face of all the fake smiles and delicately worded press conferences. Jinora had always brought out the best in him. Even after three years, probably miles away, just the memory of her kept him grounded.

As the cheering died down, the rumours began. Again.

It wasn't the first time he'd heard any of them. The most popular ones were that she had a third eye that always stayed awake (untrue), that she could shed her skin (untrue), that rebel Animals often aided her (true), and that pouring pure water on her could melt her (most likely untrue as well). The first few times he heard people talk about her in such an ugly light, he often lashed out and lost control, accusing everyone around him of being empty-headed. Eventually, with some reigning in (along with some very effective threats from Madame Hou-Ting), he had learned to hold his tongue, to force a smile anyway. Somehow, his silence only fueled his anger. Sometimes, he wondered how he could live with himself. If he even wanted to anymore.

He cleared his throat into the microphone. "Thank you again for coming. I know it's just a formality, but I'm still honored that so many of you came to celebrate with me. I - "

One voice pierced through the crowd, interrupting him. "Captain Kai! How does it feel?"

He paused for a moment, unsure of how to respond. Then, he smiled that careful smile that he'd spent the past three years perfecting, and said, "I couldn't be happier. Everything I could have dreamed of and more has come true. Thanks to our wonderful Wizard, I simply couldn't be happier."

Well, not simply. He had to make some hard choices along the way, leave behind some of the things - the people - he'd valued most. The woman he loved. Along the way, he wasn't sure if he'd given up a part of himself in the process, a part that he could never get back.

"Yes, I couldn't be happier," he said again, "because happiness is what happens when all your dreams come true." His smile faltered, as the day he had chosen his path, and Jinora had chosen hers, came hurtling into his mind. The day some of his dreams had died."Well…" his voice cracked and he felt tears prick at his eyes. "Isn't it?" He swallowed hard and plastered on a smile. "Yes," he said once more, "happiness is what happens when all your dreams come true. Thank you for coming, and thank you for allowing me to be your Captain of the Guard. Your support means everything to me."

He bowed politely before turning to leave, and the shouts of "Thank goodness for Captain Kai!" pierced his ears as he departed.

Kai hastily wiped his eyes. Here he was, the most beloved person in all of Oz, except maybe the Wizard, with the world at his fingertips. His family was proud. His friends were proud. Everyone was so damn proud that he'd made something of himself. Yet he had never felt like more of a failure.

"An excellent performance today, Captain," Madame Hou-Ting said, her lips drawn into a smug smile. The mockery underlying her words made him narrow his eyes.

"A pleasure, as always," he said, giving her a strained smile. "Now if you'll excuse me."

He made his way out of the Wizard's palace, all the while smiling and waving at anyone who greeted him.

He was tired of it. Tired of performing, tired of lying, tired of all the fake smiles that everyone believed. When was the last time his smile had been genuine? He suspected it was the day that had changed everything, when he and Jinora had come to the Emerald City, swept away in each other and their happiness, before they had learned the horrible truth. He was in his prime, and never had he been so tired in his life.

For one unguarded moment, he found himself wishing to see Jinora smile just one more time.

 _there are bridges you crossed you didn't know you crossed until you crossed_

There were few things Kai genuinely enjoyed anymore, but one of them was coffee at Korra's house. She had been the Captain of the Guard before retiring and giving the position to him, and had been his mentor when he had been training for the job. He could remember his first day of training, Korra remarking how he had a mean right hook. Kai had shrugged, saying he'd have plenty of practice, and it was true: more than once a boy had deserved a punch in the face for saying something about Jinora. Korra's wife, Asami, knew Opal as well, through her engineering, and the BeiFong family had partnered with Future Industries many times for projects like the yellow brick road, and the Emerald City. During his time under Korra's mentorship, he'd become fast friends with both her and her family.

"Uncle Kai!" came a voice from the kitchen. Before he could respond, he was tackled with a hug from a little Polarbear Dog who smiled up at him with shining black eyes.

Kai chuckled softly, returning the hug. "It's always good to see you, Naga." She pulled out of his hug and proceeded to bring him up to speed on the goings-on in the household, including how much she'd grown that week and how many cookies she'd eaten two days ago.

"Naga, your lunch has been sitting on the counter for half an hour," a tall woman with long, black hair and warm, green eyes said, walking in from the kitchen behind her. Asami bent down at eye-level with Naga, and couldn't seem to suppress the smile playing at her red lips as she said in a stern voice, "You need to finish your vegetables this time. Okay?"

Naga pouted and nodded at her reluctantly. "Can I eat next to Uncle Kai, then?" she asked meekly. When Asami nodded, Naga squealed and threw her furry little arms around her neck quickly before running back into the kitchen to retrieve her neglected meal. "Thanks, Mommy!"

Asami laughed as she stood back up, and for a moment looked fondly in the child's direction, before turning to Kai.

"Sorry about that," Asami chuckled. "She really loves seeing you."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Kai replied with one of the few genuine smiles he could manage anymore. "She's a great kid. You and Korra have done really well with her."

Asami smiled appreciatively, before sitting down on the couch opposite him and taking a sip of the coffee before her. "I still can't believe it's already been seven years since we adopted her. They grow up so fast."

Kai simply nodded, taking a quick sip of his coffee. It burned his throat on the way down, but he was so used to feeling nothing he welcomed the sensation. "And how's your company doing?" he asked.

"It's fine," Asami said, "though we've been having a little trouble getting a project off the ground." She sighed, setting her cup down. "I have five blueprints for the remodeling of the Animal Adoption Center ready to be looked over, but I can't seem to get clearance to actually go ahead with it. I mean, I'll take any project the Wizard needs me to take around Emerald City, but the adoption center's in shambles." She shook her head and sighed. "Maybe becoming a mother has made me soft, but I have been trained to look for problems that need to be solved. Right now, that's the biggest one."

Kai slipped his hand into his left pocket, feeling for Jinora's bumblefly comb. Asami's compassion always reminded him of her. Of all the belongings Jinora had left behind, there were only two he couldn't bring himself to return to her family: the comb, and her copy of The Sky Dancers. He had reread the book so many times he was pretty sure he could recite it almost all from memory. It felt like as long as he had the comb and her book, he hadn't truly let go of her. Of what they had.

"So, how has your work been going? Any luck finding her?"

The question stopped him in his tracks. Before he could find the right words to answer, the front door opened loudly and a hand was ruffling his hair.

"Kai!" He was hugged from behind by a strong, dark-skinned woman with short hair.

He almost fell over from the impact. "Korra!" he exclaimed. She always greeted him like that, but it still always surprised him.

Opal had slid in next to him while Korra had been busy pouncing, so he nearly jumped at the sound of her voice. "Sorry we're late!" she said, hugging him (more gently, he observed gratefully). "Korra came to pick me up on time, I just had a hold-up in the lab."

"Normally I would have whisked her away then and there, but who am I to rush someone with a bun in the oven?" Korra said with a cheeky grin. "Besides you know how Bolin is, always worrying about his wife."

Kai nearly spit out his coffee. "Wait, you're pregnant?"

Opal laughed, a little embarrassed. "I wasn't going to formally announce it for a couple more months, but Bolin can't keep his mouth shut." She smiled apologetically. "Among the bunch of us, you're actually the last to know."

"C-congrats," he managed to choke out.

Now knowing that Opal was pregnant, it suddenly struck Kai that they were getting older. Opal's hair was a little more windswept, she was a little taller, with a kinder look in her eyes. Kai wondered how Jinora had changed. Was her tongue just as sharp, her eyes just as beautiful? Or were they sad now?

He wondered, if she hadn't left, or maybe if he had gone with her, if they would be in Opal and Bolin's places now.

His throat went dry.

"Kai, are you alright?" Opal said, her smile gone, her eyes shining with concern.

Kai couldn't lie to them. "Not really… I just - I just need some air, is all." He pushed himself up from the table and went out to the back porch. It was a cloudy day with a cool breeze, and he could imagine Jinora on her broomstick, soaring through the clouds.

He took a deep breath. How was it, after three years without so much as a single word or glance, he was still so hung up on her? Would he just be hopelessly in love with her for the rest of his life?

Kai glanced up at the sky, deciding that he had been out there for long enough, and turned back into the house. He could hear the three women talking, when Jinora's name caught his attention - hardly anyone used her real name anymore.

"I'm just worried about him," Asami was saying. "I mean, it's been three years since she left and he's still searching for her and hasn't let up at all-"

"You never got to see the way he looked at her," Opal said gently. "Love makes people do crazy things. If anyone can find her, it's Kai."

"Maybe she doesn't want to be found," Korra said sadly.

Kai swallowed hard. "Maybe you're right," he admitted, stepping into the room. They all looked sheepish, but Kai waved his hand dismissively. As he took a seat, Opal put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry about Jinora, Kai," Opal said, squeezing his shoulder. Kai managed a weak smile.

"Who's Jinora?" Naga walked in with her plate in her paws and took her seat next to Kai.

The adults paused for a moment, not sure which words to use for the small Polarbear Dog child looking at Kai with wide eyes, chewing her food in the most unassuming way. Kai cleared his throat.

"She's the greatest person I've ever met," Kai answered, his eyes stinging. "But not everyone understands that, so she's hiding from the people who don't understand. So we have to keep her a secret, okay?"

Naga nodded. "Okay," she said seriously. "I promise."

Kai thought of the last time he made a promise with someone: in a cozy private suite with a second bed stuffed in last-minute, between a green girl and a boy who had no idea how much he would love her, and he thought of how they had both broken their promise, in the end. How about a promise that we'll make sure we're not lonely now.

He gave Naga an empty smile and ruffled the kid's hair. "Thanks, kiddo." He pulled the comb out of his pocket and looked at it longingly.

The sparkle of the comb caught Naga's eye. "Oooh, pretty!" she cooed. "Where'd you get that?"

"From a good friend," Kai said, pocketing it again. He didn't want to look up and see the pity in Opal, Asami and Korra's faces. "I'm hoping to give it back to her someday."


	12. The Wicked Witch of the East

Chapter 12: The Wicked Witch of the East

 _all alone and loveless here, just the girl in the mirror_

A tube of soft pink lipstick, some red ribbons, and a pile of hairpins laid scattered on the vanity table. Concentrating carefully on the image reflected back at her, Ikki painstakingly twisted the loose half of her hair into a small bun identical to the one on the other side and tied it up with a ribbon. It nearly struck her how similar it looked to the way she once wore her hair as a little girl. But she'd left that little girl behind long ago, and any messy strands that might have splayed out back then were now carefully pinned against her head, clean and sleek.

"Do you need anything else, ma'am?"

Otaku's voice interrupted her wandering train of thought. "No," she replied coolly, "that will be all." She took the tube of lipstick and applied it carefully. No matter what anyone said about her, they couldn't say that she was ever unkempt or untidy.

"Are you sure, Miss Ikki?" he asked. She rolled her eyes and turned her wheelchair around to face him.

"Otaku, I really just want to be alone."

He approached her carefully, a strange mix of concern and fear glistening in his eyes. "Are you sure you wouldn't like the company? You've been so resigned over the past few years. You once had so much energy, so much life… I've been worried about you, Miss Ikki. I've been worried about you for a while."

Ikki gave him a cold glance. "You've overstepped your bounds, Otaku. I'll ask you one last time to leave me be."

She noticed the hurt in Otaku's eyes, but she'd learned long ago to suppress guilt. Guilt only held her back. With one final glance, he left, and Ikki faced the mirror once more.

"Well," came an all too familiar voice from among the shadows, "it seems the beautiful only get more beautiful, while the green just get greener."

Jinora stepped out into the light, looking almost the same as she had three years earlier. The only difference was the length of her dark brown hair, raggedly cut just at her shoulders, a nervous smile on her face. Ikki screamed.

"What are you doing here?" Ikki hissed. "You're-"

"Ikki, please calm down. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," Jinora said, shocked at the fear on her sister's face. She had never expected Ikki to listen to all those rumours about her. "I came to ask you for help. Where's father? I need to convince him to stand with me against the Wizard."

"Father's retired," Ikki said shortly, and it took Jinora by surprise. She stared at Ikki, frowning.

"The role of leadership became too much for him, after everything. What else would you expect, after you ran off on that silly broomstick of yours. After you left Kai behind."

"Father…" Jinora ignored the snide comment. "Then Ikki, you're the governess. You can help me."

"Why should I?" she scoffed. "Firstly, I'm an unelected official. I can't harbor a fugitive. And why would I help you when you fly around Oz rescuing Animals you've never even met, when you never even thought to rescue me!" Emotions that were once carefully tucked away now flooded her consciousness, and for a moment, Ikki looked like her younger self, the once vivacious, energetic girl that talked far too much and felt even more.

Jinora's eyes widened, as if she was hearing Ikki for the first time. "Ikki, I can't just - "

"No, you listen to _me_ ," Ikki said. "You don't get to disappear for three years to talk over me." She looked away and laughed humourlessly. "I depended on you and Father nearly all my life, and then Father decides to just pack up and leave, which isn't nearly as bad as what you did. Now I depend on a bumbling assistant who hovers even more than you and Father did. Did you ever stop think how that felt? How it feels to be trapped in this hideous wheelchair, scrounging for scraps of pity to pick up? And then you just _left_. You left me, and Father, and Kai, and now you think you can just come back to beg for my help?" She looked back up at her, a fire in her eyes that hadn't shone for years. "Think again. And you haven't seen Kai, have you? He's never even crossed your mind! But I see his pain, because I love him, but he's too hung up on you to even notice, and it's not like he'd ever take a girl in a wheelchair!"

Jinora fought for her voice to work, her heart pounding. _Kai… he's too hung up on you…_ Was it possible that somehow, Kai still had feelings for her, despite everything? She shook her head; she needed to focus on Ikki.

"Ikki, I had to leave, if you would just listen-"

"No, you are going to listen. For three years you've had that damned book and you never thought to fix me?!"

"Ikki, you aren't broken - listen, Ikki listen, there isn't a spell for everything, I'm still learning, I just -" Jinora glanced at her sister desperately, the sparkle of her sister's silver shoes catching her eye. "Maybe there is a way." She dropped to her knees and pulled the Grimmerie out of her bag, flipping through the pages till she found the spell she was looking for. Immediately, she started chanting.

Ikki stared in horror. "What are you doing? What does that mean? What are you -" Then Ikki cried out in pain, and her shoes began to glow a bright red. After having little to no sensation in her feet for as long as she could remember, the sensation of them burning was alarming and terrifying, yet strangely satisfying. The burning sensation died away as Jinora's chanting ceased, but the shoes remained a bright ruby red.

"Try taking a step forward," Jinora said. Ikki looked at her, but slowly, did as she said. Her foot hit the floor and slid, but other than that she remained upright. Ikki took her other foot from her wheelchair and took another step.

Ikki laughed in joy, running to the other side of the room. "Jinora - Jinora, I'm _walking_ … I - I can do anything. Otaku… I don't need him anymore!" She turned back to her sister. "And maybe now Kai would have me…"

Jinora's heart leapt into her throat. "But wait, Ikki, the Wizard, he's doing horrible things to the Animals, and we-"

"Who cares about the Wizard?" Ikki crowed. "I need to go to the Emerald City, announce the good news."

Jinora frowned, her eyes stinging. "So you're not going to help me-"

"Ikki, are you alright?" a man's voice asked, interrupting the two sisters.

"Otaku, come in here, look at this!" Ikki shouted. Jinora recognized the young man as Otaku - older now, but still the plump, well-meaning boy she had known from her days at Shiz - as he came into the room.

He yelped at the sight of her. "What is she doing-"

"Never mind her, look at what I can do!" Ikki said, running toward him. She let out a little giggle, but had trouble stopping and had to grab onto Otaku's shoulders for support. His eyes lit up, and he looked over to Jinora.

"You did this? For her?" he asked quietly.

"Finally, something good has come from my powers," Jinora said, smiling a little. For once, there was a light in her life.

"And…you're not here to hurt anyone?" Otaku asked cautiously, just barely containing his own excitement.

Jinora shook her head gently. "Of course not. I tried to tell the Wizard the truth, about the Animals. But he's the one behind it!" Was someone actually listening to her? Jinora felt like she wanted to cry out of relief.

Otaku looked a little longer at Jinora, as if trying to assess whether or not to believe her. Then, he gave her a small smile, and looked back to Ikki. "We should help-"

Ikki looked up at him, startled. "Help? Otaku, we can't… help. We have our own citizens to worry about. You can't… you can't be falling for her too! You're the one thing that's mine! The one person who doesn't think of me as the Wicked Witch of the West's little sister!"

A blush crept onto Otaku's face. "…Yours?"

"Yes, mine!" Ikki snapped. "You're my servant! Who else is going to take me to the Emerald City to see Kai?"

Otaku's face fell. "Kai? Why do you need to see him?"

"To make sure she can't take him from me like she's taken everything else," Ikki said, pointing at Jinora. "Maybe, now finally, Kai will see me the way I see him."

Otaku took a step away, hurt weighing on his features. "You're in love with him." Otaku shook his head. "I've been such a fool. I always hoped… you're wasting your time, Ikki. Kai's in love with Jinora. He hasn't stopped and I don't think he ever will."

Jinora's eyes widened. "He loves me?" her voice cracked.

"And she _left_ him," Ikki spat. "I'm going to him. Maybe if he sees that I won't leave him behind, that I'm strong enough to stand by his side now-"

"I wouldn't leave you," Otaku interrupted, his voice trembling. "Ikki, Kai doesn't want you-"

"He sure as hell doesn't want the Wicked Witch of the West!" Ikki screamed, tears pooling at her eyes.

"He won't want the Wicked Witch of the East either," Otaku countered. "Please Ikki, stop this. Despite everything you've done, I still believe there's some good in you. Please prove me right. I know the girl I fell in love with three years ago is still in there somewhere."

Ikki looked at him, stunned. "…You're wasting your breath. I'm not the girl you danced with at the Ozdust three years ago. I left her behind long ago. Maybe I am wicked. And if I am, then you should learn to hold your tongue!"

Otaku kept staring at her, trembling. "I don't believe that. I believe that girl is still inside you, somewhere. I want to stay and help you find her again. Please. Let me in." He took her hands tenderly. "I'm never going to leave you."

Ikki pulled her hands away, slowly backing away from him. "No. This…this won't do…I can't have Kai thinking he has competition… I'll just have to…turn your heart away from me…" In a mad frenzy, she reached for the book and flipped through until she found an appropriate spell.

"Ikki!" Jinora bent down towards her and tried to pull her away, but Ikki threw her off, stumbling through the words of the Grimmerie.

"What are you doing?" Otaku asked in a soft, hollow voice.

"Ikki, it's dangerous. You're pronouncing the words all wrong. Please, stop before -"

A loud cry escaped Otaku's lips, and he collapsed onto the floor. "My heart…it feels like…it's shrinking…"

Ikki's eyes widened in horror. She turned to Jinora, clasping her arm. "I didn't mean to hurt him. Jinora, I didn't want to hurt anyone, I didn't mean for it to go this far…Do something!"

Jinora took Ikki's hand and looked at her sorrowfully. "You can't take back a spell once it's been cast." She looked towards the Grimmerie solemnly. "All I can do now is look for a spell that might save him."

"Please," Ikki said, fighting back tears, "hurry."

Ikki caught a glimpse of her reflection in the vanity, one strand of hair out of place and a single tear rolling down her pale, trembling face. She'd never meant for it to go this far. She'd never meant for anything she did to go so far. The the abandonment she'd felt from father and sister had hardened her heart, and she'd let her jealousy, her paranoia and shame, get the better of her. Her whole life, she thought she had been ashamed of her sister. Now, she realized she had only ever been ashamed of herself.

She looked to Otaku, his breath stilling, and thought of the people of Munchkinland, stripped of their rights because their governess was too insecure to allow them to wander farther than she could reach on her own. She had only ever been ashamed of herself, and now she had every reason to be.

All the choices she made had led her to the girl in the mirror. The Wicked Witch of the East.

She heard Otaku's breathing normalize, and Jinora's chanting stopped. "There. I've done all I can."

Ikki glared at her through fresh tears. "What about his heart?" she demanded.

"He won't need one now," Jinora said gently. They both looked at Otaku lying unconscious on the floor, and Ikki gasped at the sight of his new metal body.

"You never should have shown me that wretched book," Ikki said, her voice thick and heavy. "I can't help you. If you want to face the Wizard, you're going to have to do it on your own."

"Ikki-" Jinora reached out a hand and placed on Ikki's shoulder.

Ikki shrugged her off, raising a hand, keeping her back turned to her sister. "Just go," she croaked.

Jinora choked back a sob, but complied and stepped away from her sister. She couldn't help but wonder where the little girl for whom she had always tied bows in her hair had gone. "I've always done everything I could for you. And it still wasn't enough. It'll never be enough." She took a few more steps toward the door, then stopped at the doorknob, and turned to face her sister. "Goodbye, Ikki."

The door slammed shut behind her. Ikki let out a ragged sigh, tucked the loose strand of hair away, and wiped her face of her tears.

Then, Otaku's metal body roused with a loud creak. "What happened?" he asked groggily.

Ikki paused for a moment, unwilling to tell Otaku what she'd nearly done to him. Then, once he stood up at caught a glimpse of himself in the vanity, before he could scream, she said, "It was Jinora," and simply walked off.

If people were going to call her the Wicked Witch of the East, than that was exactly what she would be.


	13. A Proposal

Chapter 13: A Proposal

 _there's a girl i know, he loves her so_

When Kai had heard a knock at his apartment door, he wasn't sure what he expected. What he hoped every time he heard it knock was that maybe, just maybe, Jinora was coming home. What he didn't expect was Ikki, standing, with nothing but a purse and her jeweled shoes (he swore he remembered them being silver the last time he saw her, almost a year ago).

"Ikki!" he said, trying to hide the surprise in his voice. "You're…you look…"

"I'm walking. I know," she said calmly. Even if it hadn't been that long since he'd seen her, the calm in her voice always managed to catch him off guard; he wasn't sure when she had stopped being the giggling ball of energy wheeling down the halls of Shiz. Maybe it had started after Jinora had left. A lot had changed after Jinora had left, after all.

"…How?" Kai asked, still in shock.

Ikki waved his question off with her own. "May I come in?"

Kai blinked at her a few times, unsure if he would ever be able to process the image of her standing. "Uh, sure," he said, stepping out of her way. "Do you…need any help coming in?"

Ikki smiled gently at him. "That's sweet, but no thank you. I can walk on my own perfectly fine." And she did; with small, swift steps, she entered his messy apartment, her red heels thumping on his green carpet.

"Is there a reason you're here?" Kai asked. "Have you… have you heard anything from Jinora?"

Ikki felt a pang of guilt and gave him a strained smile. "No, not from her. But I am here for a very good reason… Kai, you're Oz's favourite person. You hold a very influential political position. And Munchkinland is rich in resources. What I'm saying is… a union would be beneficial to both of us."

"A union?" Kai repeated faintly.

"A marriage between you and I," Ikki elaborated. "Look, Kai, we don't have to rush into anything but… I love you."

A lump formed in Kai's throat. "W-what?" He had assumed Ikki's affections for him had just been a schoolgirl crush that had died down after a few months. "Ikki - I -" he wracked his brain for something to say. "What about Otaku?"

"Otaku. I never loved him. I love _you_ , Kai." Ikki looked at him, her voice wavering. "Just, please consider my offer." Her voice became very small, a ghost of the girl he knew back at Shiz. "You don't even have to love me back. Just…stay with me."

Kai swallowed hard. "Ikki…I don't feel the same way." One of his hands went to his pocket and closed around Jinora's bumblefly comb.. "I just…I can't. You're a wonderful girl, and I'm sorry if I led you on at all during the time we knew each other. But for both our sakes, I can't enter a loveless marriage. We deserve better. _You_ deserve better."

Ikki blinked back tears. Otaku had been right after all. _Kai's in love with Jinora_. "It's because of my sister, isn't it?" Kai opened his mouth, surely to protest and Ikki cut him off. "Don't deny it. I just don't understand. She's a fugitive, she has nothing to offer you. You'd be putting your life in danger for her."

Kai's frowned, his mouth a thin, hard line, his eyes narrowing. "She's worth it. I'm not expecting you to understand - I don't think anybody really does - but she's worth it. You're right. I do love her. I made the mistake of ignoring it once before, and if by some miracle I get a chance to make up for my mistake, I want to take it. So if you have been in contact with her - and I think you have, because only some sort of magic would have been able to fix your legs, and she's the only one powerful enough to do it - if you care about either of us at all, would you tell her that for me?"

A tear slid down Ikki's cheek. "You really do love her."

"I do." Kai's eyes softened slightly.

"She…she did come to visit me, but it ended badly. I don't think I'll ever see her again. I'm sorry, Kai."

Kai's heart leapt to his throat. "Jin - Jinora came to visit you?" Ikki nodded solemnly. "Is she okay? Hurt or anything? Is she managing?"

"She's fine. She…she looked good." Ikki managed a small smile. "Life obviously hasn't been easy, but she seemed alright." She let out a strained chuckle. "You know her. She's always been strong." Her eyes wandered to the floor, and she added very softly, "No wonder you love her."

Kai let out a deep sigh of relief, running a hand through his hair. "Good." His voice broke. A weight seemed to slide off his shoulders. "That's good."

"I'm assuming you're not going to consider my offer," Ikki said.

Kai gave her a mirthless smile. "I've been lying to people for so long, Ikki. I can't lie to myself, and I can't lie to you. What little time I had with Jinora was wasted convincing myself that it wasn't worth it to go after her. Now I'm willing to use what little courage I have left to fix the mistakes I made when I was younger, and it might be too late." He sighed and looked at her imploringly. "Please understand."

"I do," she croaked. Ikki wiped her eyes. "Goodbye then, Kai."

 _Please don't hurt my sister._

 _I promise I won't._

Kai waited until Ikki was gone for the tears to fall. His shoulders sagged with relief and sadness. Ikki was in love with him. He had shot her down. But he had hurt her; he had broken another promise to Jinora.

Jinora. She was okay. She was _safe_.

Kai buried his face in his hands, breathing deeply. After years of combing through panicked sightings from terrified citizens and newspaper clippings that were anything but reliable, he knew for a fact that she was okay.

For the first time in three years, he felt like it wasn't a struggle to breathe.

 _i'm not that girl_

"Governess Ikki reported something interesting to me," Madame Hou-Ting told the Wizard the next week. "Apparently, Jinora visited her and was responsible for Ikki's assistant, Otaku's current state."

The Wizard dragged a hand down his face. "We need a way to bring Jinora down. We can't have the public doubting our authority. We need…some sort of bait for her."

"It's too bad the people are so fond of Kai," Madame Hou-Ting remarked. "Surely you saw the way she looked at him?"

"I did. But you're right, he's far too popular. We can still use him. Besides, Jinora hasn't reached out to anyone in her past life, least of all him. Most likely her way of trying to protect them. No, Ikki will have to do. I believe weather has always been your specialty, Madame Hou-Ting?" The Wizard smiled and Hou-Ting returned it.

Within the next few hours, a twister rolled through Oz, and a house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East, leaving only her ruby slippers behind.


	14. Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead

Chapter 14: Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead

 _wake up, sleepyhead, rub your eyes, get out of bed_

It had started with a high-pitched noise. Jinora was startled awake inside her hollow oak tree (uncomfortable, but she figured it was better than putting any more kind Animals in more danger than they already were just for existing by having them harbor a fugitive), and for a moment she thought it was a trick of the wind, yawning itself awake with the first light of sunrise. Then, the noise grew more familiar, if not to her ears than to her heart, and the noise soon felt less like the whistling of the wind and more like the shrieking of a woman.

Her heart jolted when she realized who the sound belonged to.

Immediately, she scrambled out of her makeshift shelter with her broom in hand and took to the cold, gray skies as quickly as she could.

She just hoped she wasn't too late.

 _wake up, the wicked witch is dead_

"That's right!" Kai called out to the pigtailed girl in the distance. "You just take that one road the whole time! Good luck!"

He'd have to trust Asami's road-building skills now. He was terrible at giving directions.

Once the girl in the blue-checkered dress and white pinafore was far enough away, Kai turned back to the face the wreckage of her house. He carefully smiled at the munchkins that were still scattered around the scene and asked them, very gently, if he could have some time alone to thoroughly investigate it. For the Wizard, of course, he added.

The munchkins, happy to cooperate as always, scattered away, off to celebrate their new found freedom.

Once he was alone, Kai fell to his knees and broke down in tears.

He couldn't look at the way Ikki's legs were mangled under the weight of the house. The only thing left on her feet now were her black-and-white striped stockings; he had given the ruby slippers to the girl that had come in the house and cast a protection spell on it. It wasn't much on his own, but as he suspected, Jinora's magic touch was already on them, strengthening his own spell. The girl - Dorothy, he believed her name was - would be fine now. She just had to find the Wizard. For all his shortcomings and questionable morality, it was doubtful that the old man would allow an innocent little girl to be put in harm's way. After all, all Dorothy had asked for was a way home. As the tears rolled down his face, he silently wished that Dorothy would find her home quickly, that maybe one more innocent life wouldn't have to get caught in the Wizard's political game.

"What a touching display of grief," said a biting voice behind him. His heart skipped a beat; he'd know that voice anywhere. Slowly, he turned around, and had to blink a few times to make sure it was true.

And it was; there was Jinora, just a little taller, with a thinner face than he remembered, shorter hair, and dark circles under her eyes, but still as strong and beautiful as she was the day she left him. She was even still wearing the old black witch's hat he had given her.

"Jinora," he breathed, a lump forming in his throat, caught between joy and sorrow. He'd been looking for her for three years, and here she was before him. Of course he was happy to see her. And yet he knew that she wasn't there for him. Unfortunate circumstances had ripped them apart, and unfortunate circumstances had brought them back together again in the most tragic way.

She didn't smile back, and instead walked past him towards the house. "I don't believe we have anything further to say to one another."

The sharpness in her voice stung him, and Kai stood up behind her. "Nothing further to say? My best friend leaves after kissing me, without a word to anyone but me, comes back after three years, and we have nothing more to say to one another?"

Jinora turned around sharply, her bloodshot brown eyes boring into his. "As if working as the Wizard's pawn wasn't enough, you had to give away Ikki's shoes, the only thing I had to remember my sister by. And now that wretched little barn girl has walked off with them!" Her eyes trembled ever so slightly, and Kai immediately recognized the same impassioned girl he'd come to know, hiding under this sheet of a tired, worn-down woman that couldn't stop herself from fighting even if she tried. "So I'd appreciate some time alone, to say goodbye to my sister."

Kai had daydreamed about their reunion very often. Sometimes he'd imagine it being tearful, sometimes he wanted to imagine them joking as they had before, and in all of them, he imagined a long embrace and a fervent kiss, to make up for everything that had remained unsaid. The last thing he had expected was Jinora's cold reception. Hurt and bewildered, he took a few steps away and allowed her the room she needed.

He heard the icy resolve melt in her voice. "Ikki," she sobbed, "please, please, forgive me…"

Being in the presence of the person that had the strongest hold on his emotions after so long was like being thrown headfirst into a deep pool. He couldn't stand the sound of her guilt-stricken grief and immediately rushed to her side, placing a hand on her shoulder for the first time in years.

"Jin," he said, the nickname feeling both distant and familiar all at once in his mouth. "You can't blame yourself. Accidents happen."

Her head whipped around toward him. Her tear-stained face was almost glowing with anger. "You call this an _accident_?" She shrugged his hand off and stood up, glaring down at him. "You of all people know that I'm not stupid. This was planned. Cyclones don't just appear from out of the blue. Don't tell me you don't remember a certain weather-controlling headmistress, especially seeing how closely you've been working with her."

Kai stood up and faced off with her. "You're so set on finding fault with them that you'll blame them for anything! And why are you so angry with me for joining the Wizard?" he exclaimed, an indignant anger rising in him. "We made our decisions. I honored yours, even though it killed me every day. Why can't you do the same for me?"

"Because _I_ never groveled in submission to a horrible, oppressive system that ripped apart everything I believed in and _took away my sister_. And of course you would defend them," she scoffed. "You're practically one of them now."

"You don't know the first thing about why I joined them!" he shouted. "I became Captain of the Guard to look for _you_." His eyes stung. "I spent a year and a half doing nothing but taking sorcery classes so I could be given a position of authority that would make it easier for _me to find you_."

Her eyes widened ever so slightly before she stared him down with a glare, fuming in silence, her deep brown eyes burning. "Is that why my sister was killed? So you could _find_ me here?" Her voice was quiet, dripping with bitterness and disgust.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Kai snapped, and he couldn't help the growl underlying his tone.

"Then explain to me why Hou-Ting's cyclone snatched up some otherworldly barnhouse and dropped it on my sister!" she demanded.

"I don't know!" he yelled back, his voice cracking. "I don't know why cyclones appear out of the blue and I don't know why Hou-Ting would want Ikki dead, okay? I know I work with her, but I never really -"

"Of course you _never_ ," she interrupted mockingly. "You've been too busy telling everyone how wonderful everything is all the time!"

"I'm a…public figure now," he said, all too aware of how flimsy the words sounded coming out of his mouth. "People expect me to -"

"Lie?" Jinora finished, crossing her arms.

" _Be encouraging_." They stared each other down for a moment more before Kai sighed and bowed his head. "I know I've made a lot of mistakes since you left. I wanted to do the right thing, really. I was just scared. I thought I could change the way things were by operating under the set rules, but in the end…I got in too deep." He looked at Jinora with pleading eyes. "Please understand. For once, people saw me as more than my parents' wealth. They saw what I could become. They adored me for it. I couldn't resist."

"They adored you for what they thought you were," Jinora corrected, her voice still retaining a bit of sharpness. "I know the feeling."

He ignored the jab against him and carefully took her hand, afraid she'd pull it back. Even when she didn't, his heart still pounded wildly in his chest. "You know me, Jin. I screwed up. I had you and I didn't know how much that meant when we were younger. The fact is," he said, a small smile creeping onto his face, "I still think of you as my best friend. And I've missed you so much."

She gave his hand a squeeze back, but couldn't meet his eyes. "I've missed you, too. But you have to understand why I had to leave."

"I do," he said, nodding vigorously.

"What I don't understand," she said softly, turning to meet his eyes at last. "Is why you had to stay. And why you had to stay with the Wizard, of all people."

He glanced down at their hands, and he stroked the back of hers with his thumb as he said, "I don't know. I mean, I do, but…looking back, there was no good reason for me to."

Tears dripped onto their interlocked hands and he looked at her face, tear-streaked once again. "I suppose it doesn't matter now. We're here, and my sister's gone, because of me." She wiped her face with the back of her free hand. "If you're really not here to kill me or lock me away, then I suppose I should get going before your underlings arrive to fulfill the Wizard's wishes for you."

She let go of him and began mounting her broom, but before she took off, Kai grabbed her arm. "Wait! You're just leaving again?"

She looked at him blankly. "Kai, there's nothing you can do. Just tell them I was too fast for you and escaped, or that I never came. Keep your job as Captain of the Guard. I don't need to ruin any more lives."

He held onto her tighter. "You couldn't do any more damage to me than I've already done to myself. Jinora, listen. What if one of us changed our paths? What if it was me?" He held her hand again. "What if I came with you this time?"

Jinora's eyes widened. "Kai, I can't ask you to leave your life behind. This is the first time we've seen each other in three years. I don't expect you to -"

She was abruptly cut short when his mouth caught hers in a lingering, desperate kiss. She shuddered with surprise and delight - she'd forgotten how safe it had felt the first time. And yet she couldn't ignore the twinge of guilt in her gut. Here she was, kissing her best friend/long-lost almost-lover at the site of her little sister's death. It certainly wasn't an ideal situation, but nothing really was with her.

The sound of guards rushing in on them pulled her away from her thoughts, and she broke the kiss. "This is the absolute worst timing for anything," she groaned. The footsteps, yelling, and clanging weapons grew louder. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

He nodded, his smile lopsided and genuine. "Positive. I'm not letting go of you again. Let's follow our red string this time."

"We have a lot to talk about, then," she murmured, heat rising to her cheeks the way they did when she was still in university with him. He climbed onto the broom behind her and wrapped his arms snug around her waist before she shot off into the sky.

From the ground, the guards swore they saw Captain Kai in the sky with the Wicked Witch of the West. Impossible, they thought, but they couldn't ignore what they were seeing.

Their captain had been taken from them.


	15. As Long As You're Mine

Chapter 15: As Long As You're Mine

 _i've lost all resistance, and crossed some borderline_

"There it is," Kai said, pointing with one hand down at a large, gray mansion on the hill below them.

"Looks kind of drab for an Upland estate," Jinora teased, and he couldn't help but laugh. It was nice to hear her poking fun again.

"That's why no one ever visits it, and Mother's too stubborn to sell it. Plus, there are tunnels and secret passageways. It's a perfect hideout."

Jinora swooped down onto one of the balconies and landed carefully, before they both dismounted the broom. Upon entry, it looked like they'd landed in a bedroom, void of much decor but still furnished with heavy curtains and a large bed. A few cobwebs lined the corners of the ceiling and a thick layer of dust covered everything, but she figured that, as far as temporary homes went, this was the best she'd get in a while.

Kai's hand found hers, and their fingers intertwined as she turned around to face him.

"So…" he said, giving her hand a squeeze.

"So," Jinora replied, unable to fight the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. It was almost like they were back at Shiz, young and hopeful and constantly dancing around the matter of their mutual attraction.

But they were older now, and wiser (for better or worse), and the gist of their feelings were out in the open. Not so much with words, exactly, but the message was still clear. Jinora still couldn't believe it; never in her wildest dreams would she had ever thought Kai would want her in this way, the way she wanted him. And by Oz did she want him.

Kai gave her hand another squeeze as if scared she'd fly away again. As much as he knew his life would be hard now, he couldn't imagine anything being worse than what he had endured the past three years. Even if they only had an hour together, a day, he wouldn't make another choice.

"The - the news said sometimes," Jinora said nervously. "That, you um, were with other...other girls."

Kai took her other hand. "Rumours," he said, his eyes meeting hers. "There was never anyone else."

Jinora's face broke into a smile, both relieved and touched and still so overwhelmed with how warm his hands were - she had almost forgotten. He was _here_ , with _her_. He had kissed her now, twice. He _wanted_ her.

Jinora slipped her hands out of his, bringing them up to cup his face. One hand moved to rest on the back of his neck, and she leaned in closer, almost hesitant, almost scared of the desire building up inside of her - desire that had been building for years, suppressed, now bubbling to the surface. Almost.

She could see his eyes flickering down her lips and back up to her eyes, and his eyes widened as she slowly leaned up and trailed her fingers over his lips. They were warm and chapped, and she wondered how they'd feel against her own again. Her hand cupped one side of his face as she brought her lips against his and, finally, kissed him. She was surprised by the intensity with which Kai returned the kiss. His mouth moved hungrily against hers, and she let out a soft moan.

Their first kiss had been quick and chaste, their second desperate and brief.

This was long, and passionate, as Kai wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer, their warm bodies pressed together, but it still didn't feel like it was close enough, after three years of distance.

Jinora gripped his shoulders, deepening the kiss even more. Kai was the only real thing in the world, the only thing keeping her heart beating, the only thing that mattered. It was so easy to get lost in him, in the way his mouth moved against her own, his chest rising and falling against her own, their hearts beating as one.

She ran her fingers through his hair, shaping her mouth over his again and again, as if trying to make up for all the time they had wasted. Kai pulled her closer to him, his hands warm and firm on her hips, as if anchoring her to him.

Jinora found her hands going to the buttons of his shirt. She unbuttoned one and then paused, unsure if Kai wanted her to continue, when Kai took her hands and placed them against his chest. "Don't stop," he breathed before capturing her lips with his again.

Jinora responded with equal enthusiasm, treasuring the time it took to undo each button, as she slid the shirt off his shoulders. She shivered as she felt his bare skin move beneath her hands, as he placed his hands on the back of her dress, and she guided him towards the zipper. Gently, Kai pulled the dress up over her head with shaking hands, and for a moment Jinora couldn't see him, and her longing for his touch returned. As soon as her dress was discarded on the floor she threw her arms around him and kissed him furiously. He ran his hands through her hair, along the curves of her body, as if he couldn't get enough of her; she never wanted him to stop.

Somehow, they made it over to the bed without ever letting go of each other. Jinora didn't know how and she didn't care, as she helped him get his pants off. She ran her fingers through Kai's hair again - still as soft as she had always dreamed it would be - trailing her fingers along his undercut, and her breathing hitched as Kai pulled away and kissed the side of her neck. She moaned despite herself. Every time his skin touched hers she felt a rush of exhilaration that was so much better than flying.

Three years apart, three long years of hoping and pining and thinking there could never be a time for them was finally over, and Jinora's heart pounded as Kai continued to kiss her fiercely.

It was only when they were spent, both of them out of breath, lying beneath the sheets and tangled up in each other's limbs, as Jinora laid her head on Kai's bare chest to hear his heartbeat, did she smile. Kai kissed her hair, running it through his fingers.

"I love you," Kai murmured. Jinora felt her heart stop, and she sat up to look at him for a moment in shock, before her smile grew so wide she'd thought it'd split her face. She leaned in and kissed him again, slow and tender this time. "I love you," he murmured against her lips. It felt so good to say those words, even better to know that she reciprocated his feelings. "I love you." He kissed her again. "I've always loved you."

Jinora shifted into a sitting position, moving over to straddle his hips before she kissed him again. "I love you," she whispered, her cheeks flushed and her eyes lit up with happiness. She laid on top of him and he wrapped an arm around her waist, her hair tickling his nose. Kai kissed her forehead.

Jinora felt her breathing slow, the steady drum of Kai's heart lulling her to sleep. She had never felt more loved; she had never been more loved. She only hoped, that when she woke up in the morning, it wouldn't have just been a dream.

 _every moment, as long as you're mine_

When Jinora woke up, it took her a moment to remember. Sunlight was streaming in through the dusty window, and she could feel Kai's breath, his chest rising and falling under her head. She smiled as she remembered. Her. Kai. _Together_. Clumsily unwrapping parts of one another they'd never shared before. It hadn't been a dream after all. She chuckled softly as she looked at their clothes, strewn around the room. Kai's boxers had ended up on her hat.

Jinora tilted her head and kissed Kai briefly, his eyes fluttering open, before she sat up and reluctantly climbed out of bed and out of his arms. She picked up her dress, which had been lying near the window, when she felt Kai's eyes on her. She turned back to him with a smile on her face, but couldn't help but feel heat rise to her cheeks. "Are you checking me out?"

Kai had propped himself up on his elbows, the sheets sliding off his torso. With the sunlight illuminating her figure, her loose hair out of its usual tight bun, curling around her bare shoulders, the dress clutched in her hands just covering her chest, Jinora was a sight to behold. He didn't think he'd seen anything more beautiful.

"Maybe," he admitted with a grin. He thought back to a time when he adamantly denied having any interest in Jinora - _there was no way he had just been checking out the green girl_ \- and he shook his head slightly in amusement. Oh, how times had changed. He laughed when Jinora threw his boxers at his face.

"I'm sure my verdigris is a real turn on," Jinora said sarcastically, slipping her dress on. It was almost like the good old days all over again, with their banter and easy smiles.

No. This was better. Despite all her recent heartache and having been a fugitive for the past few years, this was better.

"What can I say? Green's still my favourite colour," he shot back with an easy laugh, slipping his pants back on over his boxers. "That reminds me…" Kai dug his hand inside his pocket and pulled out the bumblefly comb. "I have something for you." Jinora walked over to him, looking at him curiously. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands," Kai requested. "No peeking."

"I'm not," Jinora promised.

Kai pushed the comb into her hands. "Now open your eyes."

Jinora gasped, her eyes filling with tears. She studied the comb as if it was a treasure, before looking back at him as if he were something even more beautiful. "You kept it all this time?"

"Of course I did," he said softly, very lightly holding onto her forearms. "When you left, I guess I just wanted to keep a piece of you with me." He took the comb from her hands and placed it in her hair, the way he had years before. He cupped the side of her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb. "Pink still goes good with green," he said, before kissing her again. He'd lost track of how many times they'd kissed at this point, but somehow the growing familiarity of her lips against his only strengthened his yearning. He stopped when he felt her tears against his face.

"Sorry," she laughed shakily, reaching up to wipe away her tears. As they kept flowing, he wiped away some of them for her. "Thank you for keeping it for me. I'm really happy to be here with you, it's just that...the comb reminded me that my family's gone, and part of me feels like I should be grieving more than I have been. I left them behind, too, and now…"

Kai kissed her forehead, drawing her closer. "It's alright, Jin."

Jinora sniffled, smiling tearfully up at him. "Thank you," she said, giving him a brief kiss. "Now, you should probably put a shirt on before we make some breakfast… or not."

Kai chuckled, his hands moving down to rest on her hips. He kissed her again. "What are you in the mood for?"

"You," Jinora whispered in his ear, and she heard Kai's breathing hitch, before she drew away with a giggle. "Come on, let's get to the kitchen."

"Jinora," he whined, grabbing his shirt from the floor. "That's so unfair."

"You won't have to wait long," Jinora said, taking him by the hand as they left the bedroom together. Kai soon took the lead, as he was the one more familiar with the mansion. "After breakfast. Besides, we have a lot to catch each other up on."

"That wasn't what we were doing last night?" he teased. Jinora flushed.

"That was years of sexual tension," she said dryly. "And we still have some more catching up on that front, too."

Kai laughed. "Just checking. So seriously, what do you want to eat? I'm pretty good at magicking food."

"Oh really?" Jinora arched an eyebrow. Her dress was still rumpled from its hasty removal the previous night. "Magic away then."

The kitchen, like the rest of the house, had a layer of dust. Jinora flicked her wrist and the dust vanished instantly, the counters gleamed, the cupboards rendered clean.

There was something surprisingly comforting about that moment; with her cleaning and him preparing a meal for them to share. It struck her that, in some ways, they were almost resembling an ordinary couple. It wasn't as if she could just immediately forget that they were also on the run from their own government, but the simplicity of the moment was...nice. Of all the things she expected out of her life, that was one of the last.

Yet here she was, with the man she loved and who loved her back in turn, even if she could still barely believe it.

"You hungry?" Kai asked once she had finished cleaning. Jinora's stomach rumbled in reply and Kai laughed again. "Good. Our pancakes are almost ready."

Yes. This was nice. By no means perfect; the loss of her sister still stung no matter what, and hiding out wasn't exactly an ideal living situation. But Kai's love was like a sweet balm to the pain. This was the most at peace and the happiest she had felt in a long, long time.

She wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, watching over his shoulder as he flipped the pancakes in the frying pan. "They look good."

"Hopefully they'll taste good too," Kai said, turning off the stove with a flick of his wrist. "Remember the pancakes back at Shiz?"

"You'd drown them in syrup," Jinora remembered fondly, releasing her hold on him. "Where is the syrup anyway?"

"Should be in that cupboard," Kai answered, turning the pan slightly and letting the pancakes slide onto their plates. Jinora grabbed the syrup after a bit of searching and joined him at the table.

Jinora reached across the table to hold his hand even while they ate. It was still hard to believe he was here with her, in love with her. "So," she said swallowing her first bite. "Where do we start?"

"From where we left off," he said. "After you left, were you able to find someplace safe?" He tried not to sound worried, but those first few weeks had held many sleepless nights for him, tossing and turning over every worst-case scenario.

Jinora told him everything, about the kindly animals that had taken her in - friends of Dr. Laghima's - and the first tough few months of building a network and trying to create change. She told him about laying the groundwork, trying to help rebel animal groups and struggling to stay afloat when the groups were eventually captured and imprisoned. How she kept up with his life as best she could with the magazines, newspapers and tabloids. She told him about the sleepless nights and the long days and all the times she felt so terribly alone. By the end, tears were streaming down her cheeks, and Kai was crying too. He wondered how long she had been holding it all in.

"I'm sorry I didn't come and try to find you earlier," she whispered. "I just thought you'd be better off without me. Safer." She had never seen him cry before until the day before, and the way his eyes shone with tears - because of her - made some her heart ache.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I'm just sorry you had to go through all that," he said, kissing the back of her hand. _I should have been there with you_ , he couldn't help but think. Jinora managed a small smile.

"What about you?" she sniffled, giving his hand a squeeze.

He paused for a moment, reluctant to share all the details. "You know I worked for the Wizard. I...did a lot of things you won't be proud of. A lot of things _I'm_ not proud of." He shook his head. "I should've left with you that day."

"Hey," Jinora said, stroking the back of his hand with her thumb. "We're here now. That's all that matters."

Kai swallowed hard. He told her about working hard everyday to graduate from sorcery early, how empty her half of the room had been, how lonely he had felt. He told her about how he felt sick to his stomach whenever anyone said a bad thing about her - about the day when he had lost it and punched a fellow student in the face for badmouthing her. He told her about his graduation day, as he threw his pointed hat in the air, but could only think of one thing: how she should have been standing beside him. He recalled every grisly detail of how he knowingly went along with some of the Wizard's plots against the Animals and anyone else who was deemed "suspicious", sometimes having to directly push against her efforts. And the shame he'd been trying to suppress for so long came crashing down on him, and Kai wondered how he was worthy to even stand in her presence, let alone look at her or love her.

"I'm so sorry, Jinora," he whispered hoarsely, his voice thick with tears.

Jinora got up from her chair and pulled him into a hug; he buried his face in the crook of her neck. "I forgive you, Kai. _I forgive you_." She cradled his head in her hands, their empty plates forgotten. "I know I was angry with you before, but...honestly, I was angry at myself, too. We've both made mistakes. But we must've done something right somewhere along the way; after all, we're together now, right?"

Kai managed a weak, but genuine smile. "Right." He leaned up to kiss her gently, tenderly, out of gratefulness and love. Jinora always had a way of bringing out the best in him. She had, and continued, to save him from himself.

He brought Jinora onto his lap, and she wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you, Jin."

"You're welcome," Jinora smiled. "Now, you mentioned your mentor, Korra? She and her wife Asami have a little kid named Naga?"

Kai's tear-streaked face broke into a smile and he nodded eagerly. "You would've loved her, Jin. She's funny and smart and sees the world through such loving eyes. She reminds me a bit of you. She's an Animal, though, so Asami and Korra are pretty protective."

Jinora's eyes softened, and a spark of hope lept up within her for the first time in a while. "She is?"

Kai nodded. "A Polarbear Dog. They adopted her seven years ago. Asami's trying to renovate an Animal orphanage. And Opal's three months pregnant, if you can believe it."

Jinora wondered how it would feel, to have a child. A child, luck willing, without her green skin, but maybe her eyes would be nice. With Kai's dark skin and hair. She smiled, heat rising to her cheeks.

As she looked into his face, she recognized the flickering of an idea in his eyes, and she could tell he was thinking along the same lines as she was. It wouldn't be anytime soon, but maybe, someday.

Jinora slid off his lap, holding his hand. "Didn't we make plans for after breakfast?" she said playfully.

"You might need to refresh my memory," Kai said, playing along. Jinora pressed a quick kiss to his lips and laughed, smiling as they went back up to the bedroom.

Their lovemaking the night before had been frantic and passionate, but this time it was more slow as they helped each other out of their clothes. They laughed against each other's mouths, caught up in their joy and their feelings for one another. Kai kissed her slow and soft, with a tenderness that sent shivers down her spine. His hands traced her curves, her edges and her scars and all her imperfections, memorizing and loving each one with a gentle kiss. She trailed kisses along his jaw, laughter catching in her throat at the faint stubble she found there, grinning as she bit down on his lip and heard him moan her name.

If this was what it felt like to be loved to your very core, Jinora never wanted it to end. And it didn't, even as she laid beside him in the calm, except for their laboured breathing and racing hearts. And it never would, because she had him. She laced her fingers through his, marveling at the way their fingers, their bodies and mouths and broken pieces, fit together perfectly.

"I love you," she said, and it didn't seem like enough.

But she knew Kai understood as he kissed her again and murmured, "I love you too," against her lips.

 _come be how you want to and see how bright we shine_

It was close to midnight when Jinora spoke, curled up in Kai's arms. "Did - did you ever think we would be…?"

"Together?" Kai finished. He looked at their linked fingers. "To be honest, no. I always hoped, but then everything with the Wizard happened so fast and it didn't seem like there'd ever be a time for us."

Jinora paused a bit before speaking again. "From _The Sky Dancers_ , one of my favourite quotes is, when love is real-"

"-it finds a way," they said together. Jinora looked at Kai, surprised.

"I reread the book all the time, while you were gone. And _The Red String_. It made me feel closer to you. It made me feel like - like maybe we had a chance after all. And we do." He squeezed her hand and Jinora snuggled closer to him.

"We should try to find Dr. Laghima one day, to thank him."

"Hmm? How come?" Kai murmured into her hair.

"He told me to give you a chance," she said, "back when I was determined to hate you. That's why I started trying to help you with your history papers."

"Aw, so it wasn't just my irresistible charm?" he pouted jokingly.

She snorted. "As if. I seriously thought you were a huge prick back then."

"Well, you weren't wrong," he admitted with a chuckle. Jinora felt the low rumble of his chest under her free hand. "Besides, both of our first impressions of one another were a little off."

"No, I think I'd still describe my past self as angry and defensive," she laughed against his neck.

"I think the fact that I referred to you as a garden vegetable so often didn't help matters any," he replied with an embarrassed smile.

"And you did nearly run me over with a chariot the first time we met. That was a bit of a hurdle to get over."

He pressed a kiss against her forehead, smiling gently. "It's lucky for me that you did."

"Me too," she murmured, blinking a few times to fight off sleep. She'd missed late-night talks with her best friend. Granted, now their late-night talks involved a lot more flirting, touching, proclamations of love, and nudity, but she didn't mind at all.

"But yeah, you're right," Kai said, fighting off a yawn himself, "I guess we do owe that old Bison a lot."

"What do you think would have happened if he hadn't said anything?" Jinora asked sleepily, staring at her free hand, which was resting on his chest over his heart.

There was a moment's pause, and the arm that was wrapped around her waist drew her closer. "Someone or something else probably would have pushed us in the right direction, like how Opal and Otaku tried to, at least," Kai said, finally. "Or everything would've depended on us just gradually becoming less stubborn, which would've taken a really long time."

"Three years isn't long enough for you?" Jinora said with a small smirk. He wrinkled his nose at her and kissed the smirk off her face, replacing it with a sweet, shy smile. She pulled away with a giggle.

"It's funny," he said, "looking back, I don't think I ever actually hated you. I think I just hoped I did. You made me face parts of myself that I didn't want to acknowledge. You always have."

"I don't think I ever really hated you, either," Jinora said softly. "I might have legitimately disliked you a little in the beginning, but I treated pretty much everyone the way I treated you then. Plus, you were everything I wasn't. Carefree, charming, popular... I suppose hating you just seemed like the thing that was expected of someone like me. And maybe, deep down, I was a little jealous of you, and everything you stood for."

He tenderly stroked her bare shoulder, almost teal in the moonlight. "I guess our red string of fate was extra tangled."

"Didn't stop us," she said, pressing a kiss to his jaw. "Speaking of which, we never did finish that book, did we?"

" _The Red String_? No," he said, his eyelids drooping. "Wish we had… I picked it out for you…" His breathing began to even out, and his voice softened as he was pulled further into sleep.

She smiled fondly at him, reminded vaguely of the first time they'd lived together, talking for hours on end till sleep claimed the last word. Oz only knew why he was so exhausted now, seeing as they'd spent the majority of their day in bed. Doing things other than sleeping, but still.

"Goodnight, Kai," she whispered. "I love you."

"Love you, too, Jin," he breathed, using what consciousness he had left to pull her as close as he could to him. His skin was warm against hers, brown melting into green in an unexpectedly beautiful combination.

Before sleep could fully claim her once and for all that night, Jinora couldn't help but hope she'd have a chance to grow accustomed to falling asleep in Kai's arms. It wasn't likely, given their situation, but with every smoldering kiss they shared, every lingering touch and knowing glance, she couldn't help but hope. It was probably stupid of her to dream of a future for them, but for once, she really didn't care. They were finally together, and that was what mattered.

 _borrow the moonlight until it is through_

"Look! We can finally finish it," Jinora said a few evenings later, plopping back down beside Kai on their bed. He looked up from previous day's issue of The Ozian Times, a newspaper run by Animals for Animals (apparently Jinora had a Cat Owl friend that was very good at tracking her down to deliver any news he could of the outside world; Kai hadn't minded until said Cat Owl dropped in on them during a rather intimate moment the day before) and looked from Jinora's face to the book she was holding. It was an old, well-worn copy of The Red String.

Kai grinned. "Where did you get it?"

"I stayed with a really nice Camel Yak a few months after I left," Jinora said. "She had a small house, but it was stuffed with books. One day during my stay, she caught me looking at this one. I suppose she had some general understanding of what it meant to me, because she insisted on giving me the copy, no questions asked. It's the only thing I constantly carry around besides the Grimmerie," she said, blushing slightly. "I guess I wanted something that made me feel close to you, too."

He stared at her for a moment, glowing in the candlelight, wearing nothing but a black slip they'd found in one of the many closets (not that either of them had been wearing much over the past few days anyway), and as his eyes lingered on the pleased little smile on her face, he wondered for the millionth time why in Oz he had ever let her go.

"Do you remember which chapter we left off on?" he asked, putting the newspaper aside and pulling her into his lap. He kissed her neck as she flipped through the book.

"Chapter 14?" she asked, examining a page, trying hard to keep a straight face in spite of the sloppy kisses he was trailing along her shoulder.

"Chapter 15, actually," he said, looking up. "But I'm fine with you reading a chapter more to me." He continued, his mouth trailing back up to the ticklish spot in her neck that he'd found one night ago.

She turned herself around enough to face him, just barely suppressing her flustered giggles. "That is very distracting."

"I don't hear you telling me to stop," he said, grinning provocatively.

Jinora narrowed her eyes at him, and he couldn't help but notice how cute it was when she wrinkled her nose ever so slightly. "Do you want me to read this or not?"

"Fine," he said as she turned her back to him once more, resting his chin on her shoulder and pouting. "But I'm not finished with you," he whispered, pleased with himself when he felt her shiver in his arms.

"Good, because I have yet to get started with you," she said lightly, and Kai could practically hear the coy smile in her voice, even if she wasn't looking directly at him. Why exactly fate had decided that the odd green girl he'd met almost four years ago would be the same woman that could draw him in with her every little word and action, he didn't know, but he knew he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Once she began reading the fourteenth chapter, her voice lilted into a low, mellow tone. The familiar sound brought his mind back to their first visit to the Emerald City, just a few short years but also a lifetime ago, a time when life had been a little more confusing and when he had been a little more afraid.

Her voice always altered just a little with each mood switch of the story - three chapters in, and Kai could already hear Jinora's voice cracking, as they hadn't exactly left off on a happy part of the book - pulling him deeper into the fictional world they shared, even for just a fleeting moment. She read every word with conviction, laughing when it was time to laugh and crying when it was time to cry. Despite all the time that had passed between them, and all the ways they had been forced to change, he was glad that she still felt things as deeply and sincerely as she did. He had to admire her strength; all that time alone, and in some ways, it only made her more sensitive to the world around her.

He smiled at the memory of himself, three years younger, secretly picturing the two of them in the place of the book's protagonists, held back by fear and his own crippling insecurity. Now he knew it was them, as Jinora's voice narrated the characters' final battle together against the forces that conspired against them. Like the book's two leads, he and Jinora had faced as much opposition as any two people could receive. The distance of time and their once opposing positions in someone else's political game hadn't been enough to break them apart. They were just knots in an invisible, unbreakable thread.

Jinora's voice wavered as she read the last few pages. It was a bittersweet ending; the characters had been forced to give up parts of themselves they never thought they'd have to let go of, as was the way in every story of struggle, but ultimately, it was a happy one, with the characters together, standing victorious, never to be separated again.

The book was gently shut and set aside. "You know, I never actually read the very last chapter before," she said, wiping away a few tears. "I guess I always wanted to hope that someday we'd get to finish it together."

His heart softened at her confession. After everything he'd allowed her to go through, she'd never really lost faith in him. In them. Even though he'd given her every reason to before he'd finally taken to the skies with her.

He kissed her shoulder right above where the strap of her slip was sliding down. "Thanks for not giving up on me."

She turned herself around enough to look at him. "Hey," she said, cupping his face gently, "you know I wouldn't. No matter how angry I get or how much either of us screw up, okay?" He placed his hand over hers, and her green lips curved up into a gentle smile. "We have a connection." She then turned herself around completely so they were face to face, and she was straddling him once more, eyes glinting knowingly. "Now, didn't you have something you wanted to finish?"

Kai grinned, kissing her a little too hard and a little too eagerly, always met with an equal amount of fervor. The stirrings in his heart and body never ceased, as he pulled off her slip, tossed it onto the floor and shifted on top of her. Her small, thin hands snaked their way up his back and into the tousled top of his hair. He bent low and kissed her neck.

"I love you, you know," he said, pulling away to kiss her lips.

He could make out her little smirk in the candlelight when he pulled away, and she simply replied, "I know." She reached up to kiss him again, then pulled away to say, "I love you, too."

Kai grinned. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing you say that."

Jinora beamed. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of saying it," she whispered, before trailing kisses along his neck.

Kai let out a soft moan, but look at her confused when she pulled away and saw her holding back a giggle. "What is it?" he asked, his hands going to rest on her bare hips.

"It's just, for the first time, I feel…" she looked up at him, smiling. " _Wicked_." She surged forward to kiss him passionately, bringing him down on top of her, her mouth hot and heavy against his own. Kai gripped her tightly, kissing her back with equal enthusiasm until they were both panting for breath.

"You should feel wicked more often," he teased, before Jinora kissed him again.

"Just shut up and let me kiss you," she said against his lips. Kai chuckled, happy to oblige as she ran her fingers through his hair.

He would never get tired of this either.

 _and know i'll be here holding you_

"Guess what I found, Jin?" Kai said, coming into the kitchen. Jinora took a sip of her tea, smiling as he entered. They had barely been out of each other's sight the past four days, but it still made her heart swell whenever he smiled at her - a smile just _for_ her, after so much time apart.

"What?" she asked, as he took the seat next to her.

"I was up in the attic looking for books for us to read, and I found a radio," Kai explained, putting the device on the counter. "With a little magic, we should be able to get it working."

She studied the radio carefully. It was an older model, and probably had gone unused for a very long time, judging by the dust that lined its small speaker. Still, getting it to work again and adapting it to more current technology wouldn't take too much effort, especially for two powerful, in-sync sorcerers. Plus, she realized with a bit of relief, the Grimmerie wouldn't be needed for this simple process. She was starting to hate that old spellbook, after all the trouble it had caused.

She and Kai said an incantation together, and a few lights of the radio blinked before it crackled to life. "In other news, the search for Captain Kai Upland continues. Last seen by his guards near Munchkinland, he has been kidnapped by the Wicked Witch of the West roughly five days ago."

The radio chattered on, and they sat there in stunned silence.

"Notorious throughout the land of Oz, if you have any information on the whereabouts of the Wicked Witch, please call in through this number or send a letter to the Press Secretary Madame Hou-Ting, assistant to the Wizard."

Jinora rested her elbows on the counter and buried her face in her hands, folding over in her seat, as Kai turned off the radio. "I should've known they'd do something like this," she said. "Of course we couldn't keep what we have without them pulling something like this."

"And they know the truth," Kai growled. "Madame Hou-Ting, the Wizard. They have to. I wasn't exactly keeping my feelings for you a best-kept secret, even around them. They're trying to discredit you, see if they can still use me… I'm sorry, Jin. I didn't want to cause you any more pain."

She took his hand and managed a small smile. "It's not your fault," she said, carefully interlocking each of her fingers with his. "I guess we just wanted to believe that changing the paths that we were on for so long would be simpler than it really was. That we could keep hiding out here in Kiamo Ko in some semblance of domesticity, as if the rest of the world didn't exist." She sighed. "I should have seen this coming."

"Hey, if I can't blame myself then you can't blame yourself for this either," Kai pointed out. He cupped her face with his hands. "They can say whatever they want about us. I don't care. It's not going to stop me from loving you."

Jinora smiled, giving him a brief kiss. "Thank you." She laid one of her hands on his own, leaning into his touch. "But the fact remains that you have many people, including your friends and family, looking for you. Thinking something awful has happened to you."

There was an uncomfortable silence, before Kai said, "It can't be helped. The people that matter to me can figure out the truth, and those that don't...well." He stroked her cheek with his thumb. "I know it's not without its sacrifices and consequences, but I choose you. I don't care about being Captain of the Guard anymore. I don't care about anything else that life has to offer me anymore. I've got everything I need, right here."

Jinora's eyes grew bright, but her smile became the tiniest bit pained. "If you choose this...if you choose us...you'll have to become a fugitive, too. Every time you push back against them, they'll further besmirch your good name. You'll have to be ready to run at a moment's notice, because you never know when they'll come trying to drag you away to your death. You can never get too comfortable in one place. If you choose us, eventually the Wizard and Hou-Ting won't be able to keep up the lie, and it'll be replaced with a new one. One that puts a price on your head."

"Fine," he said immediately. "As long as I get to stay with you."

Jinora's eyes filled with tears. "Are you sure you want to do this?" her voice broke.

Kai reached over to wipe away one of her tears. "Positive. I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I'll love you, whether we're together for one more day or a lifetime. I'll love you as long as you're mine, and even longer. You're all that I want. I let go you once. I'm not making that mistake again."

Jinora smiled tearfully. "I don't deserve you."

Kai cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead before drawing away again. "I think I'm the one who should be saying that."

She trembled under his hands as he pulled her closer to kiss her, as his hands slid down to rest on her hips. She had never been touched so tenderly before. "I'm yours," she whispered against his lips. "I've always been yours."

Kai smiled. "Always?"

Jinora pulled away slightly, smiling. "Well, ever since you taught me to dance," she added. "And you had to ruin the moment?"

"Just making another one," Kai corrected her, reaching for the radio. She watched in curiosity as he turned the knob. Soft music floated out of the speaker. "Care for a dance, Miss Thropp?" He held out his hand.

Jinora held back a laugh as she took it. "Why thank you, Mr. Upland." He pulled her towards him, taking one of her hands into his own and resting his other hand on the small of her back, pressing her against him. She gingerly laid her free hand on his shoulder, and smiled as they went through the steps, waltzing through the kitchen. A laugh tumbled out of her mouth as Kai twirled her around before he brought her back into his arms.

Jinora's laughter quieted as she rested her head on his shoulder. She remembered when it took so much effort just to keep her steps in rhythm with his own, back when the world was less complicated. Now, they glided through the kitchen effortlessly, the chaos of the world taking a backseat to the slow, sweet melody floating from the radio.

 _i'll wake up my body and make up for lost time_

When Jinora woke up in the morning, the other side of the bed was empty, which was strange. After spending nearly a week in the house, she had gotten used to waking up in Kai's arms. Jinora dragged herself out of bed and slipped on a shirt before walking out to the hall.

"Kai?" she called. For a second, a wave of worry threatened to wash over her. What if Kai had suddenly decided he didn't want this life after all?

"In here," he called back, and she followed the sound of his voice into a room further down the hall. He was standing next to a dresser with an open jewelry box on it.

She leaned against the doorway, a smile spreading over her face. "What are you doing?"

"I was just wondering what my parents left here, is all," Kai explained. "Jewelry, clothes. We'll need some money sooner or later, right?" He slipped a hand into his pocket, his fingers closing around the ring inside. It was simple, a gold one with a glittery white stone. He didn't plan on selling it, however; he knew it would come in handy one day.

Jinora's eyes crinkled as he rejoined her side, placing his hands on her hips. "Oz you're beautiful."

Jinora's cheeks turned a deeper shade of green. "I...I never thought I'd be-"

"Beautiful for me?" Kai asked, his forehead touching hers so that all he could see was her eyes, her snub nose and full, soft lips, so that all he could see was the woman he adored. "You're the most beautiful thing I'll ever see in my whole life."

Jinora managed a tiny smile, but he could tell she still didn't truly believe him. Kai took her by the hand.

"Come with me," he said softly, kissing the back of her hand before leading her back to their bedroom.

He took a dusty sheet off the mirror in their room and placed Jinora in front of it. His hands grabbed the edges of her shirt, silently waiting for permission for a few moments, before he lifted it up over her head and dropped it onto the floor.

The sight of her, laid bare before him, still took his breath away. "Your insecurities," he said softly. "List them."

"My skin," Jinora said immediately, her breathing hitching as Kai kissed the crook of her neck next to her collarbone.

"Keep going," he murmured against her skin, his hands sliding up and down her sides.

"M-my hips." A shudder ran through her as Kai dropped below and slowly kissed the curve of her sides, his hands tracing over her her hips, as her breath caught in her throat, and he continued trailing kisses along the curve her hips, his fingers running over the curves of her thighs. "My hands." He took her hands and kissed her fingers, slowly and gently, as though her hands had never done anything wicked, only good. She felt a longing for him build as he slowly moved back up from her hips to her neck, trailing sloppy kisses all the way, and she gasped as his lips brushed the curve of her breasts.

She rested her hands against the back of his neck, before going down to the buttons of his shirt. The first two were undone with surprising speed, her fingers making quick work of sliding it off his shoulders and undoing the zipper of his pants. She ran her hands along his chest, savouring the way his muscles rippled beneath her palm as he pulled her closer to him.

It was in the heat of the moment, in between mouths and skin and the pounding of their hearts, as he kissed every inch of her skin that she had for so long despised, as if he wanted to do nothing more for the rest of his life, that she believed him.

Once they were on their bed, tangled up in one another, he spoke again. "Do you believe me now?" Kai asked gently.

"I think I'm beginning to," Jinora replied sincerely. Then, with that glint in her eye that was becoming more and more familiar to him, she added, "But I wouldn't mind a little more convincing."

Kai smiled. "Say it first. Say you're beautiful."

"I'm beautiful," Jinora said simply, as Kai lowered himself over her and kissed her neck. "I'm beautiful." She moaned in his ear as he kissed her collarbone. "I'm beautiful," she whispered, and it sounded like the truth, as he nibbled on her ear.

"You are," Kai said tenderly, treasuring the way she breathed and shifted under him, the way he could feel every rise and fall of her chest. "I love you," he said, his breath warm against her lips as he captured them with his own. He let out a moan as she bit down on his lip and kissed him harder, combing her hands through his hair, her hands moving down to trace the muscles of his back and his shoulder blades, clutching them to bring him closer to her.

"I love you," she breathed, surfacing for air. " _I love you_."

Kai kissed her fiercely in response, shaping his mouth over hers again and again, running his hands along her body, feeling a rush of satisfaction when she moaned his name. He pulled away, only to bite down gently on her bottom lip. "I love you too," he whispered, before she kissed him again, and he lost himself in her willingly.

 _say there's no future for us as a pair, and though i may know, i don't care_

The Cat Owl made sure to tap on their window that morning, waiting for a call of, "Come in," before entering. He didn't want a repeat of last time.

"You're sure you're not having intercourse?" the Cat Owl checked, once he heard Jinora's voice welcoming him in.

"Yes, Godfrey, now get in here," Jinora said, her cheeks burning.

Godfrey hopped through the window, two rolls of paper tied to his leg with a piece of string. The sheets of the bed were messy, but at least the humans were wearing clothes this time, even if the man wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Captain," he acknowledged politely. "You look much nicer with your pants on, although I'm sure Jinora would disagree."

Kai groaned. "Oh Oz." Jinora tried not to laugh, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I have the paper for you two, and a letter for you, sir," Godfrey said, as Jinora took the newspaper from him. "It's from a Miss Opal BeiFong. She says she knows you, and that I needed to deliver the message. They contacted me through Miss Asami Sato."

Kai perked up. "A letter?" He got up from the bed and undid the string. He smoothed out the paper, Jinora looking over his shoulder. He recognized Opal's handwriting, nice and neat. "Thank you, Godfrey."

"Would you like me to wait to bring back your reply? I can leave if the room if you two need to take your clothes off-"

"No, no, that's alright, Godfrey," Kai said quickly. "You can go. We'll have the reply ready for you tomorrow morning."

"Very well then," he replied. "Have a good day. And remember to use protection. I'm sure there's a spell for contraception." With a short nod, he hopped out of the window, flapping his wings steadily through the clouds.

Jinora flushed, and Kai was as red as a tomato. "He's never going to let us live that one incident down, is he?"

"He's a good friend," Jinora said, "and we're just lucky he didn't catch us again, to be honest." She winked at him and Kai laughed.

"Fair point." He sat back on the bed and unfurled the letter, smoothing it out with his hands. "Dear Kai," he read aloud. "Korra and Asami and I have heard the news through the Wizard, who obviously isn't giving the full story. We hope that you and Jinora are happy and safe wherever you are. We know it may be risky to contact us back, but we would love to hear from you if you can afford it. If you need any help with anything, don't hesitate to ask. Love Opal, Bolin, Asami, Korra, and," Kai smiled, pausing at the messy scrawl of, "Naga."

Jinora rested her head on Kai's shoulder. "Aw, Naga's adorable," she cooed. "I'm happy that Opal's doing well. And I'm happy that at least some of the people who care about you are safe…" She removed her head, taking his hand. "We could try - try reaching out to your parents."

"No. They would never accept us. They were never exactly thrilled that we were friends, and now…" He gestured to their interlocked fingers. "And any family that doesn't accept us isn't family anymore."

Jinora looked hard at him, thinking of her own family. Ikki certainly wouldn't have approved, at least at first. And her father…he would have needed some time to come around too. But he would have been happy, in the end. It was too bad that they might never get the chance to tell him about them. It was too dangerous, now.

She shook the thoughts away from her head as quickly as she could, and gave him a small smile. "Then come on, let's make our own family portrait," Jinora suggested. "I'm sure we could find a camera somewhere."

They went up to the attic after Kai had pulled on a shirt and rummaged through boxes of old things. Clearly, Kai's parents had been using it as a sort of storage room, but even that was years ago.

Finally, Kai found one. "Got it," he told her, holding up an old-fashioned camera in his hand, and blowing off the dust. "We should go back to the kitchen for better lighting though."

With a little magic, they got the camera going. Kai held it up and took a picture, a huge smile on both of their faces.

"We could send this back with your reply to Opal," Jinora said, once Kai had showed her the photograph after it had shuddered out of the slot of the camera.

He shook the photo out a little and smiled as the image of them took form. It had perfectly captured them; a little bit of the arm Kai was using to hold the camera was in the frame, but his lopsided grin and Jinora's sweet smile were completely visible. Their shoulders were touching, and their heads just barely leaned in toward one another.

He looked to Jinora, then back to the photo. The picture's greyscale didn't do justice to the light in her eyes, but it was better than nothing. It was his new family portrait, after all. _Their_ family portrait. Less refined than the painted portraits hanging along the walls of his family's main mansion back in Gilliken, but so much more genuine. No careful posing or itchy collars. No standing still for hours on end. Just him and the woman he loved, captured in one blissful moment. He'd have to remind himself to get another picture after sending this one off to Opal.

Jinora managed to find an old stationary set in another pile before they both made their way down to the kitchen. They sat down at the counter, taking out the quill, inkwell, and a piece of lacy beige paper.

"You should write it," Kai said before Jinora could hand the paper to her.

"Really?" Jinora asked, looking at him in surprise. "I mean, Opal's nice, but I only knew her for a little while when we were at school. And I don't even know Korra or Asami or any of the others. I think they'd prefer if you wrote it."

Kai shook his head. "I think they'd like to hear from both of us. And anyway, your handwriting is better than mine. We'll be writing it together, just with actual legible writing."

"Yours isn't that bad," Jinora tried, smiling sweetly, but Kai just continued looking at her expectantly. "Fine." She took the quill in her hands and daintily dipped it into the inkwell.

After a little back-and-forth on what they wanted to say in the letter, they were left with this final product:

 _Dear Opal,_

 _We expected that you wouldn't believe the Wizard's story, but having that expectation confirmed was a great relief to us. We know how much you were risking by trying to get into contact with us, and we're grateful to you for caring enough to take that risk anyway. We hope this letter arrives to you, Asami, Korra, and the rest of your families safely. No one was kidnapped. We reunited by chance in Munchkinland, and we took the chance to run away together. We wish we could tell you where we are, but we want to keep you and yours out of harm's way, as much as possible. Just know that we're safe and happy, the happiest either of us have been in a long time._

 _We'll always value your friendship, though we hope we'll never have to put you in the added danger of directly aiding us. Tell the others we say hi, and give Naga a hug from her Uncle Kai. Please, everyone, stay safe. And thank Godfrey again for his assistance for us; as crusty as the old Cat Owl may be, he's willingly putting himself at risk for us. We owe him a lot. Aside from one another, you guys might be the only family we have left. Please take care._

 _Love,_

 _Kai and Jinora_

Jinora carefully folded the old paper into three parts and slipped it into a matching envelope, along with the picture. Kai had made sure to write the caption, "Our Family Portrait" at the bottom of the photo.

She folded the envelope closed and wrote Opal's name on the back in careful cursive.

"Well, I guess we're ready for Godfrey whenever he's ready to take it," Jinora said. "Most likely tomorrow morning, but we should keep an eye out for him tonight, too. I know he'll try to have it delivered as soon as possible." She then became distracted, fixated with the counter's surface and restlessly tapping her fingers.

"Hey," Kai said. "Is everything okay?"

Jinora looked up and smiled genuinely, even if she continued to look mentally preoccupied. "I'm fine," she said. "it just occurred to me that Godfrey might be coming here a little too regularly. And if anyone working for the Wizard is watching for 'subversive' Animal activity…" The smile faded. "Maybe we've stayed in the same place for too long."

She didn't want to leave this place. It was the first time she had started to think of a place as home for a long, long time - or perhaps that was just because Kai was with her. The house already held so many of her good memories, and she was hesitant to let it go. But when it came to their safety, she knew sacrifices had to be made.

"Jinora, it's okay," Kai said, resting his hand on top of her restless one. "Hardly anyone knows about this place. We're on a hill that's hard to access, and you already know about the system of tunnels underground if we ever need it. We're safe."

"Still, it might be better for us to move soon. Besides, there is something I've been wanting to do for a while...You know the Wizard's palace like the back of your hand, right?"

"Right…" Kai said slowly. "Why, what do you have in mind?"

"I want to go back to the Emerald City and free the lemurs. What happened to them was my fault, and -"

"Jinora, you know it wasn't -"

"Kai," Jinora said, her face serious. "It doesn't matter what my intentions were back when I was a naive little university student. What matters is that I had a hand in something that was wrong. I want to do what I can to make it up to them, even if all I can do is release them from the Wizard's control. They won't be forced to turn on their own kind anymore. And maybe this can keep Animals as a whole safer, for now." She looked away in thought. "I've only been in the Wizard's palace once. I hardly remember its layout, and previous attempts to infiltrate the building have been...risky," she said, trying not to think of what had happened to fallen allies. She looked back up at him. "Would you be willing to help me? You don't even have to come, you can just stay here while I try and I could come back for you -"

"Hey," Kai said, taking both her hands, "I said I wouldn't leave you again, didn't I? I'm coming with you."

She removed her hand and cupped his face, brushing her thumb over his cheek. "Thank you." Kai leaned into her touch.

"Always," he said gently, placing his hand over her own. Caught up in the moment, he swiftly leaned in and kissed her, shaping his mouth against hers over and over again. The only thing he knew better than the shape and feel of her lips against his at this point was what each glisten in her brown eyes meant, but it still felt like soaring, the air around him growing chilly as she pressed herself to him, warm and comforting and safe, yet exhilarating at the same time.

Every time he held her, he couldn't seem to will himself to let go, and he still held her too tightly and kissed her too fiercely, but he knew she understood when she responded with the same eagerness, gripping his tangled hair in her small hands. Three years apart felt like an eternity to make up for. Even if they had completely closed that gap, it only made him yearn more for her, like he could never fill up the time they'd spent apart.

And maybe, somewhere deep inside of him, he was afraid that each time he touched her might be the last. He knew what he was getting into the day he climbed onto her broomstick. He knew that life on the run, as romantic and thrilling as it was in stories, would be hard and unpredictable and, Oz forbid, maybe even heartbreaking. He knew Jinora was a wanted fugitive, that millions wanted her dead.

As her lips traveled up his neck, he vowed he'd do everything in his power to ensure that they never got their wish. That he'd manage to keep her safe, never mind how high the cost when it came to his own safety.

He never could have guessed before how a love so strong could make him so fragile, how forever could fit into what he knew might be a short amount of time. He knew the risks, and he didn't care. Finally, he had everything he ever wanted, everything he ever needed: her.

Kai pulled away slightly, reaching into his pocket. Jinora stopped short, her brow furrowing. "Look, Jinora, I know everything's been moving really fast, and that we'd probably never be able to find someone to do it officially, and you don't have to feel obliged to say yes but -" His hands shook as he held out the ring. Shock spread over her face, as he dropped to one knee. "Jinora Thropp, we may have had a rough start, but I know we'll have a beautiful future, and I know as uncertain as that future may be, I want to spend the rest of my life with you... Jinora, will you marry me?"

Jinora stared at him for a moment, and he felt doubt crawl up his throat, before she flung herself at him and kissed him fiercely. She pulled away smiling as Kai stood up, and said, "Does that answer your question for you?"

"Pretty much," Kai said breathlessly, "but further elaboration couldn't hurt, could it?" He slid the ring onto her left ring finger, never breaking their gaze.

She wrapped her arms around his neck again, smiling softly. "You do know how I like to be thorough with my answers." She squealed a bit as they kissed again. It didn't take long for his hands to wander; he'd lost count of how many times he'd explored her, the growing familiarity only deepening his interest. She pulled him closer, and as he pulled away to pepper her neck with kisses, he silently hoped that Godfrey wouldn't be paying them a visit anytime too soon. As for infiltration plans, he figured they could make them later.

He heard her moan softly as her back hit the counter of the kitchen table. Jinora shifted into a sitting position on the top of the counter as Kai removed her shirt. As he kissed her mouth again, she grabbed his collar, pulling him closer, before her fingers landed on one of his buttons. While she quickly unbuttoned his shirt and he shrugged it off his shoulders, he couldn't help but remember their first time - had it really been only a little more than a week ago? - when she'd had so much trouble with the buttons, her fingers fumbling over the material. Her hands slid down his chest before reaching for the zipper of his pants. He smiled into their kiss as he welcomed the now familiar fluttering sensation in his stomach.

Once all their clothing was discarded onto the tiled kitchen floor, Kai joined her on the table. She moaned under him as he kissed her neck, lowering himself onto her. "I love you," he murmured. "Jinora Upland."

"Jinora Upland," she said softly, her chest heaving against his. "I like the sound of that."

He propped himself up over her, fondly looking into Jinora's - his soon-to-be _wife's_ \- face, a deep green colouring her cheeks and that same sparkle in her eyes lighting up his entire world. "Me too," he said tenderly. She giggled before pulling him back onto her, kissing him hard.

And before he knew it, he was lost in her, and he never wanted to be found.


	16. Return To The Emerald City

Chapter 16: Return To The Emerald City

The house was left clean, the sheets made neatly for the first time in over a week. Every trace of them was wiped away. It almost looked the way it had when they'd first arrived, lacking only its former layer of dust.

Jinora glanced at Kai, who was back in his complete uniform for the first time since their arrival, the green coat bringing out the colour in his eyes. She smiled, and looked back out to the balcony, the sky a pale blue.

"I have to admit, I love a man in uniform," she teased when he joined her side. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder.

"You'll get to take it off soon enough," he replied, kissing her cheek. "But first, we have at least a two day journey until we reach the Emerald City, and my parents own some property there. It's on the outskirts of the city, so if we lay low, we should go undetected during our stay."

"And you're sure you're okay with any little burrows my Animal friends can fit us into on the way there?" she asked. She hated to put anyone in danger, but she knew that they were their best bet, now that the two of them were traveling together. An alliance with her was a dangerous one, but her group of Badgermoles had proved to be some of the bravest and most resilient of them all, with the lowest arrest rate of the other Animals. She supposed it was because they were so large, and often underestimated because of their blindness.

They were their best bet as far as making it back to the Emerald City in one piece.

"I told you, it's fine," Kai insisted, kissing her forehead. "Anyplace I'm with you is home."

She smiled up at him, leaving a quick kiss on his lips before pulling away to mount her broom. "Are you ready?"

He climbed on behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Whenever you are."

She grinned, and willed the broom to lift off. It was hard to believe that she hadn't flown in over a week, but she had soared in many other ways she definitely preferred.

Kai, meanwhile, enjoyed the view. He had rarely flown in his life, and the last time he had been on Jinora's broomstick, he had a bit preoccupied with the realization of what had just happened. But now, resting his head on Jinora's shoulder, his arms wrapped snugly around her waist, he was free to enjoy the ride.

"It's a beautiful day," he noted. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, the sun shining brightly. He supposed it would make it easier to see them, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. The average Ozian would be too terrified to do anything, and most of the Wizard's forces were still in Munchkinland, searching for him in vain.

"It is," she said, nodding in agreement. "On days like this, I like to say hi to the Birds I pass by and make up stories about them in my head. I'd ask them for their actual stories myself, but everyone traveling by flight usually seems to be in such a hurry."

"Is that how you met Godfrey?" Kai asked.

Jinora laughed. "Kind of. It was my first week on the run when I literally crashed into him. I was still kinda new to flying, so he had to keep me from falling out of the sky upon our collision. The situation sort of forced us to get to know one another. After all, you don't just up and leave someone that saved your life. Or at the very least, saved you from falling flat on your face."

Her eyes looked ahead as she wistfully remembered her first meeting with her Cat Owl friend. For everything she made him put up with, he'd been a true friend, even if he could say some rather embarrassing things at times. Jinora had told Godfrey of their plans, sending him off with a letter (now including the news of their engagement) after telling him of their route so he could find them later.

She wondered how Opal, Korra and Asami would take the news. She was pretty sure Opal would be happy, but having never met neither Korra nor Asami, she couldn't really take a guess at their reactions. She just hoped it was supportive. As much as Kai had said he didn't care about his parents, she knew it still hurt him to have to let them go.

 _i never asked for this or planned it in advance_

"Godfrey's back!" Opal called, looking out the window. Korra and Asami jogged to her side as the Cat Owl grew larger and closer to their home. Since Bolin was gone so much of the day, Opal had taken to staying with her friends.

"A quick reply," Korra said, smiling.

Opal wasted no time in taking the letter from the Cat Owl, giving him a quick thank you before tearing the envelope open. She read the letter aloud, stopping occasionally to voice her own thoughts. "I knew he wasn't kidnapped," she said happily. "It's nice to know Kai's happy for once."

"Jinora sounds nice," Asami said thoughtfully, looking at the neat, rounded writing. "I can hardly believe she's the one the Wizard's calling wicked. She and Kai do seem to be moving a bit fast though, don't they?"

"After three years of pining, I'm surprised they waited even this long," Opal smirked. "Oh, look, there's a picture." She carefully took the photograph out of the envelope. "Aw, look at them."

The happy couple smiled up at her, and none of them had ever seen Kai look happier; he was positively glowing with joy. Jinora was equally as radiant, and years of worry and strife had faded from both of their faces.

Asami smiled a little. "They certainly look happy."

Korra took the letter and looked over it again, her eyes processing the information on the page, as if the neat, unfamiliar penmanship had some hidden implication between the lines. She looked up at the other two women, then immediately covered the windows and locked the door. "I know we touched on this before sending the letter, but you realize we've taken a clear side in this fight by corresponding with them and offering our support, right?" She lowered her voice. "It just hit me that…we're officially enemies of the Wizard."

The three women stood in the living room in stunned silence, the realization truly sinking in for the first time.

"It was bad enough that we're all Animal sympathizers," Korra continued. She dropped into the couch. "We don't talk about this a lot, but Asami and I received threats once we adopted Naga. People kept saying it was 'unnatural' and accused us of undermining traditional family values. We were able to ignore it for a while, since I was still Captain of the Guard, and Future Industries was on the rise. I guess we thought our positions of power made us immune to Ozian prejudices. But there's a reason I felt pressure to retire from my position early, and there's a reason Future Industries' relationship with the State has been shaky over the past few years."

Asami sat down next to her wife and laid a hand on her shoulder. "What are you saying?"

Korra took Asami's hand from her shoulder and held it, their fingers meshing. "I'm saying," she said, staring a hole into their carpet, in deep thought, "that it's going to get worse. We have directly offered help to the person that's been branded as the Wicked Witch of the West. Our families, our friends, and our lives are officially in danger, probably more than we realize."

There was another uncomfortable silence, and Opal took a seat opposite the couple. "Do you regret it?" she asked softly.

"No," Korra said firmly. "We're doing a good thing. Just…a dangerous thing." She squeezed Asami's hand. "We just need to be careful, is all. For the sake of our loved ones, ourselves, and the couple we're trying to protect."

"I'm glad," Asami said suddenly, and the other two turned to her. "I mean, it's scary, and we'll have to keep an even closer watch on Naga, and I'm not looking forward to having to figure out how to keep an even more fragile business relationship with the Wizard in balance while trying to hide that I'm now a direct ally of his greatest enemy, but…I'm glad we've chosen our side, once and for all." She placed her and her wife's linked hands in her lap and looked at Opal. "I guess we'll all just have to stick closer together now."

Opal smiled. "I'm glad, too. Scared…but glad." She rested a hand on her stomach, all too aware of the life she held within her. Her thoughts went to her husband. She couldn't help but worry about him having to stay out so late. "I guess I better let Bolin know of all the recent developments as soon as he gets home. So I can keep a better eye on him, too."

"And he can let Mako know," Korra added. "So that he can help control the 'search' for Kai as much as he can and keep it from getting too close."

"Right." Opal couldn't help but smile a little; her brother-in-law had been the first in their friend group to grow suspicious of the Wizard's policies, having worked as an Ozian officer since he was a teenager. He had become a senior officer in Emerald City a few years ago, but didn't have the heart to rise in the ranks anymore, having been exposed to some of the shadier dealings in their law enforcement over the years. Still, he stayed, always driven by a sense of duty to the people. A responsibility to protect them, in any way he could. A sense of pride swelled in her; just as she'd taken Bolin as her husband just a year ago, she had also taken Mako as an older brother. Not that she didn't have enough of those, but he was a welcome addition.

Korra stood up to peek outside from behind one of the curtains, before turning back to her wife and her friend. "As soon as the guys confirm that they want in, we need to all meet back here. To figure out a system of keeping track of one another, and to make any preparations for if Kai and Jinora ever need our help."

"And we can start helping rebel Animals more actively," Asami said, a smile spreading across her face.

Korra returned the smile, eyes shining. Her wife's compassion never ceased to amaze her. "Yes. We're more than just sympathizers now. We're supporters. Revolutionaries."

Riveted by their new cause, Opal left for home at once to wait for Bolin and tell him the news. Korra and Asami were left alone in their living room, and Korra sat down next to her, her eyes still shining as before, but her smile had faded.

Asami laid her hand on Korra's back, rubbing it gently. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just scared," Korra said softly.

"We all are," Asami said, taking her hand.

"Yeah, but…this puts Naga in so much more danger." She bowed her head and sighed. "What if we're not strong enough to keep her safe? To keep _anyone_ we care about safe?"

"Korra. Look at me." She glanced up, and Asami gently held Korra's chin to get a better look at her. "We can't think about whether or not we're enough. All we can do is try to be there for the people we care about, in any way we can." She smiled. "Think about Kai and Jinora. They were separated for years because they were afraid that they weren't enough for one another. Maybe, in a different way, we've been doing the same with Naga. We've been so bent on sheltering her from the world that we neglected her own kind. What kind of parents would we be if she grew up learning that we never stood up for her people? The fact is, we can't worry about whether or not we're enough, or we won't be. All we can do is promise to ourselves that we'll love her and fight for her, and her people, no matter what. Oz willing, the rest will come after."

Korra smiled softly, reaching out to cup the side of Asami's face. "What would I do without you?"

"We don't worry about _that_ , either," she chuckled, and they both laughed into a tender kiss.

 _i was merely blown here by the winds of chance_

One of the things Kai hadn't realized was just how _big_ the Badgermoles were, but he was forced to face it now that they standing before him and Jinora, sniffing them methodically.

Kai glanced nervously at Jinora, who gave him an amused smile. "They just need to get to know you. They're blind, you know."

"I know," he whispered, scrunching up his face as a wet nose tickled at his forehead, "but it's still kind of overwhelming."

Jinora, who had only required a greeting sniff and was done with her examination, came up and hugged Kai from behind, laughing. "It's not so bad. Right, Oma? Shu?"

The Badgermole couple that was sniffing him nodded. "Sorry," the female, Oma, said. "We're just detecting a lot of Miss Jinora's scent mixed with your own. It was the other way around when we greeted her. It's new," she said with a small smile.

Kai flushed. "Well, er-"

"It's usually that way between mates," Oma continued, waving off his embarrassment. "I must say I'm surprised to see you here. Didn't you work for the Wizard?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, yeah. I _did_."

Jinora took a place beside him and took his hand. "He's with me now. He's…my fiance." She smiled a little, savouring the truth of the words as she squeezed his hand.

A huge grin grew under Oma's snout, and her mate, Shu, snorted approvingly. "That's wonderful, dear. I'm so happy for you both."

"Thank you," Jinora said, "but unfortunately, we didn't come here for congratulations. We need your help. Would you be able to provide shelter for another night?"

"You're always welcome here," Shu piped up. "It'll take us a while to make a burrow that the both of you can fit in, but in the meantime you're free to explore our home as much as you want. It's not much," he said, sniffing in Kai's direction, and it was just a little bit true, considering how much of it was just mounds of dirt and holes, "but while you stay, consider it yours."

"Thank you, Shu. You're both always so kind to me," Jinora said appreciatively.

As the Badgermole couple scampered away to prepare a place for their guests, Kai tugged at Jinora's arm. "Come on. Let's take a walk."

Jinora smiled and went along with him. They started making their round about the large, Badgermole-claimed land, trying to avoid others who were busy digging.

For the first few minutes, they walked in comfortable silence, hands linked, shoulders touching. There was a strange satisfaction in it that Jinora couldn't help but notice. Walking with her fiance brought a sense of normalcy to her life, one that she hadn't been sure she would ever have.

"Are you nervous?" Kai asked suddenly.

She looked up at him. "About what?"

"Arriving in Emerald City tomorrow," he said. "You've been awfully quiet."

"Maybe I was just enjoying the moment," she shot back with a small smile.

"Maybe." He returned the smile. "Believe me, so am I," he said, swinging their arms back and forth a little as they walked. "But I know it's been awhile since you've been in the Emerald City yourself, and well, it can't hold a lot of good memories for you, after everything that's happened."

Jinora's smile faded. "Truthfully? I'm terrified." She squeezed his hand. "But I have you. And it's nice to have today, to let things slow down a little bit."

So much had happened in the last week and a half. She had lost her sister, reunited with the love of her life and gotten engaged, all while planning her riskiest mission yet. She was so used to delayed results during her years helping organize the Animal rebellion that the pace her life had taken in such a short amount of time was making her head spin.

"Yeah," Kai said, squeezing her hand back. "And besides, you're the most brilliant, capable person I know. You have nothing to worry about."

She shot a look at him. "The last time you said that I didn't have to worry before a trip to the Emerald City, I became a wanted criminal and went AWOL for 3 years."

They both laughed; if they couldn't poke fun at some of the unfortunate events that had occurred along the way, it'd be that much harder to soldier forward.

"Fair point," he said as his own laughter died down, "but we were also scared, naive kids. It was different then. We know better now." He kissed the back of her hand. "And this time, I won't let you go."

Jinora smiled. "Thank you."

 _wonderful, they called me wonderful_

It was just when they were lying to sleep, blankets draped over their shoulders on the softest patch of ground they could find, when Kai realized Jinora was crying. Her shoulders were shaking against his chest.

"Jinora?" Kai said softly, his brow furrowing, his eyes shining with concern. He sat up to try to get a better look at her face. "Jin, what's wrong?"

Jinora sat up, her bottom lip quivering. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I just…I saw two Badgermoles earlier - siblings, y-you know? And it made me think about…about Ikki, and-"

Kai gathered her in his arms. "It's okay, Jin. Let it out." She curled into him, burying her wet face in his neck, her shoulders shaking.

"I…I heard her scream when it actually happened. And I heard that same scream, just now, a-and…I saw her crushed body…stuck in a neverending cyclone…" Jinora broke into a sob.

Kai rubbed her back. "Hey. It was a nightmare. It was just a nightmare."

"She was calling out my name. In that same, awful scream. Asking me why I just…left…" Her body wracked with sobs, and Kai held her tighter. "I left her to die, and then I left her body behind, a-and… _I promised my father I would take care of her_ …"

He pressed a kiss to her clammy forehead. "It's not your fault, you know that."

She barked out a forceful laugh through her sobs. "Isn't it?" she whispered raggedly. "And I barely mourned her. I left my little sister's body to rot without so much of a second glance because I couldn't stop thinking about what I wanted."

"It's not your fault," Kai repeated gently. "Everything was moving so fast, of course you'd be distracted." He knew that most of that distraction was his fault and swallowed hard. "I know you think it is and I don't know how to convince you that it isn't, but you'd never hurt her, Jinora. Never. And I know, deep down, she loved you in the end, too."

"But no matter how much I tried, it wasn't enough," she said, her voice breaking. "Not for her, not for my father… I never said goodbye to him, what kind of a daughter am I? I must be such a disappointment." She shivered, covered in cold sweat with tears streaming steadily down her face. "Maybe what everyone says about me is true. I bring trouble to everyone I care about, I put people at risk and get them hurt…even you. I am wicked."

Kai's heart broke, his eyes stinging at the sight of the woman he loved looking so broken in his arms. "Jinora, no… You've done the best you could, you've done better than most people ever do. You are kind, and beautiful. You are anything but wicked, understand? Your sister… what happened to her was terrible, but you can't let it destroy you. You feeling like this shows how much you care. And I know sometimes it hurts more to care, but you can't stop, okay?"

Jinora nodded weakly. "Okay," she mumbled, barely able to choke the word out before she dissolved into sobs again.

Kai simply held her, unsure of what so say, but Jinora was grateful for the support in the midst of all the painful memories that were flooding back to her. She gripped him tightly, leaning into him. At least he was still here - solid and real and alive - but for how long?

It was hours until her sobbing faded into silent crying, and and hour more till she'd fallen back asleep. Kai stayed up with her that whole time, and even once he let himself sleep after she'd drifted off, he never loosened his hold on Jinora.

 _so i said wonderful, if you insist_

 _Jinora had swept to the top of the tower, staring down at the citizens of the city, and Kai saw the spear move in slow motion, as it nicked her in the shoulder, and she fell… "JINORA!" Tears sparked in his eyes. "No, Jinora-"_

"Kai-"

He woke with a start. Someone was holding him, and he recognized the way they gently cupped his cheeks as Jinora's touch. "Jin," he breathed, wanting to cry out of relief. Jinora brushed his hair out of his face before kissing his forehead, her hands resting on either side of his face.

"Nightmare?" she guessed, brushing away a tear with her thumb. A few had come during their time in Kiamo Ko.

"I thought I lost you," he whispered hoarsely. He kissed her briefly, her lips warm, just to reassure himself that she was alive. "I just…" his voice cracked. "There were so many days, I wondered if I'd wake up, and the papers would say you were dead and I…"

Jinora wrapped her arms around him tightly and he buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing her in. "I'm here," she said softly. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, I promise." As he pulled away, she noticed the bags under his eyes. They had had a lot of late nights recently, for good reasons, but she still felt bad that he was so tired. She tightened her grip around him, making sure he could hear her heartbeat as they slowly drifted back to sleep.

 _and they said wonderful_

"You two seem tired," Oma noted, as the pair packed up their belongings.

"We had a bit of an…emotional evening," Jinora said, smiling a little. "But we'll be fine. Thank you for letting us stay with you."

"Anytime," Shu said, the tips of his mouth curling upwards underneath his snout. "You two be careful."

"And take care of one another," Oma added, wrapping her furry arm around her mate's.

"We will," Kai assured them. "Thank you."

Sunlight blinded them momentarily as they stepped out of the Badgermole tunnel and into the forest. Jinora mounted her broom, and Kai got on after her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Jinora kicked off from the ground and the broom rose quickly in the air until they were soaring above the tops of the trees. And faintly, in the distance, she could make out a city of green. They'd reach the Emerald City by nightfall.

"Are you ready?" she said grimly.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Kai replied, trying to inject confidence into his voice. "Let's go."


	17. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Chapter 17: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

 _believe me, it's hard to resist_

Dusk covered them as they swooped into the palace through the window of the attic; the very same one Jinora had left through three years ago.

They landed carefully, trying their best to avoid making any sound.

"Remember, just go down the trap door, then take a left instead of a right," Kai said. "Then you'll -"

"-find the secret hallway that only you, the guards, the Wizard, and Hou-Ting know about and is never surveilled, which, if I take a right, leads to the room that the lemurs are kept in." Jinora smiled softly, the darkness obscuring her features. "You've been extremely thorough in explaining the layout to me. Thanks for that. You've been a great help."

"It's the least I can do, after…everything." He tugged at the bottom of his green coat, the uniform only reminding him more of how he'd lost his way after she'd left.

"You really need to forgive yourself for that," Jinora said, taking his hand. "You know I have."

He only sighed and squeezed her hand in reply. "Come on." He opened the trap door, and the two climbed down to one of the grand halls.

"I'll keep watch here," Kai said. "Be careful. And if anything goes wrong, go back to Kiamo Ko, and don't stop till you're there. I know you don't want to stay in the same place too often, but in the case of something happening, your best bet is distance. Fly as fast as you can, and don't look back."

"I'll be fine," Jinora insisted. "I'm the elusive Wicked Witch of the West. No one's caught me in three years."

"Except for me, I like to think," Kai said, smiling gently.

Jinora smiled back, rolling her eyes. "Only as much as I caught you." She grabbed the collar of his shirt and pressed her mouth against his, savouring one last kiss before their mission was carried out. Reluctantly, they broke apart, but Kai's hands remained on her waist.

"To be continued?" Kai asked, raising an eyebrow and shooting her a suggestive smirk.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but was unable to hide her small grin. "To be continued." They released their hold on one another, and Jinora went off in the direction of the secret hall.

Kai watched as she disappeared into the shadows, already missing having her at his side.

 _'cause it feels wonderful, they think i'm wonderful_

Following her memorized list of directions, she found herself in front of an old, splintered door, the finish on its aged wood long gone. She slowly pushed it open, careful not to make the slightest sound. Once she was in, she closed the door just as gently, and walked further into the room. She couldmake out the shape of bars on the walls, and figures shifting around behind them.

She heard the sound of scuffling footsteps coming nearer and nearer, and Jinora steeled herself, gripping her broom tightly, ready for any attack. She relaxed once she saw the familiar white ears and large, green eyes. She'd never forget them, even if she'd last seen them years ago.

"Hey, Momo," she said leaning forward and holding her hand out to him. Clever animal. He must've slipped through the bars unnoticed. "Remember me? I'm the girl that gave you wings against your will. Again, I'm really sorry about that." She waited, looking expectantly at Momo. He just stared at her with those same big, green eyes. Then, he laid a small paw in her hand. "Can you talk at all?" she asked.

Momo tilted his head at her in reply.

Jinora let out a sigh of disappointment. "I'll take that as a no." She patted Momo's paw gently.

"Well," a voice said behind her, nearly causing her to jump. "I knew you'd be back."

She whipped around, tightening her hold on her broomstick. Even if it had been a long time, she could never forget that voice; that mellow, obnoxiously cheerful voice that once had given her so much hope, just to crush it under his oversized feet.

"Stand back," she growled, pointing her broomstick at the Wizard. "I have the Grimmerie, this broom, and unspeakable power. I'm not afraid to use any of it."

"Jinora, please," he said, stepping forward. "Hear me out. I never meant to harm you."

Her jaw dropped at what was a flagrant lie, and she reached out and punched him. "Killing my sister wasn't meant to harm me?" she snarled, taking her grip on the broomstick again. "That's the biggest lie you've ever told, and that's saying something."

The Wizard held onto the side of his face that had been struck. "Okay. Maybe I deserved that," he grumbled.

"We're not even scratching the surface of what you deserve," Jinora seethed.

"I realize that," the Wizard said, sounding almost remorseful, "and I regret it. Jinora, please…" He took another step forward.

"I said stand _back_ , or the best you can hope for is another hit," she threatened. She gestured with one hand to Momo. "I'm freeing him and the rest of the lemurs. And don't try to interfere, or call the guards -"

"I'm not calling anyone," he said, this time keeping his feet rooted. "The truth is, I'm glad to see you again."

She scoffed. "Excuse me?"

"It's true," the Wizard said with a nod. "The truth is, it gets pretty lonely around here. And I know you must get lonely, too."

"You don't understand anything about me," Jinora snapped, but her the wobble in her voice betrayed her.

"You've been alone for three years, traveling, fighting. You must be tired. And now, you have Kai. How are you supposed to have a future when you're fugitives?"

Jinora's throat went dry. "I - we… It's none of your business what Kai and I do!" But somewhere, deep down, she wondered if he was right.

"But, Jinora, think of the future you, you and Kai could have, if you gave up your fight. You could be worshipped, even, by the people of Oz. The most celebrated are the rehabilitated, after all."

Jinora stared at him, but she couldn't deny it wasn't tempting. "But what about the Animals?"

"Kai showed me the findings of your experiment, a few weeks after he started working for me. But I'm afraid you have united the people of Oz through their fear, and they still need a common enemy. The Animals are the perfect scapegoat for washing away your sins in their eyes; we can blame them for your deeds. You can start again, Jinora."

When Jinora didn't say anything, the Wizard smiled.

"You look so much like your mother," he said faintly.

Jinora looked at him sharply. "My mother?"

"She worked here in the Emerald City. She was a friend of mine. She decided to marry your father, but my dear, what she could have been. What you can be. My magic grand vizier, beloved by all Oz, with Kai by your side."

It sounded so sweet. No more running and hiding, no more fighting, no more uncertainty with each day. Maybe she and Kai could get married, officially. Start a real family. Join his friends on their coffee dates. Be _normal_. She hated that it was at the expense of the Animals, but she'd already done all she could. What more could she give?

"But you lied to me," Jinora managed. "To all of us."

"Jinora, where I'm from, people believe lots of things that aren't true. We call it history," the Wizard said smartly.

But she thought of Godfrey, and Oma and Shu, and even little Naga.

She hated that she was so conflicted. Here the Wizard was, having the audacity to ask her to throw away everything she'd worked for. And the worst part was, he was actually kind of convincing.

"Set the lemurs free first," she said finally. "Then we'll talk."

The Wizard hesitated for a moment, looking between Momo and Jinora, seeming to be weighing the value of each. Then, with a sigh and that same cheery, infuriating smile, he said, "Done."

He walked over to a curtain on the far right wall and drew it away, revealing a lever and a few buttons. He pulled it, and the sound of barred doors opening creaked from every direction. Lemurs were chittering curiously around her, and Jinora thought she'd never heard a more beautiful sound.

She ran over to the door and pushed it open for them. "Fly! Fly away! You're free!" she exclaimed, laughing joyfully. She couldn't wait until Kai saw this. The lemurs skittered away through the door in a mass, some still crawling, some flying about the narrow halls.

Jinora caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see a box, still in the open cage, shifting around, agitated, with a curtain over it. She smiled fondly. One of the lemurs must have gotten themselves trapped under a crate.

She swiftly walked over to the crate and threw the curtain off, ignoring the Wizard's pleas to stop. "Come on little lemur, we…" Her heart stopped. "No."

She looked into the same face that had long ago taught her history with such passion, the same face that had supported her through everything, that had pushed her towards the love of her life.

"Dr. Laghima, what are you doing here?"

The Wizard looked stricken. "You have to understand. He wouldn't stop speaking out."

Dr. Laghima looked at her with wild, fearful eyes, and backed up in his crate, letting out a snorting grunt.

"Dr. Laghima," Jinora said, her voice breaking, "it's me. Jinora. Your student three years ago." Tears sprung to her eyes. "Don't you recognize me?"

The look in his eyes slowly changed from that of panic to comprehension, but even that still held only a shadow of the professor she'd once known. He grunted at her sadly.

"…Can't you speak?" Dr. Laghima grunted again, and it almost looked like he was shaking his head. She looked to the Wizard, her face hardening. "What have you done to him?!"

"Everything we had to, to keep him from speaking out again. Please understand, Jinora."

Hot tears fell from her eyes.

 _I will never stop speaking out._

 _Neither will I._

"I can't believe I almost trusted you," she spat. "I will never join you, and I'll keep fighting until the day I die!" She clenched her fists, willing her magic to work, but was alarmed when nothing happened.

The Wizard smiled. "After your last little visit, I had Madame Hou-Ting put some special enchantments in place to keep it from happening again. Just a security precaution." He then pushed one of the buttons. "The guards have been alerted, and should be here within a few minutes. Just long enough for you to reconsider your choice."

"Hold your breath," Jinora spat, setting her jaw to masking her fear. "Some of my magic may have limits, but I can still-"

"And we have someone very important to you, too. Surely you didn't come alone," the Wizard said with a humourless smile.

Jinora's heart dropped to her stomach. "You're bluffing," she said, her voice trembling. "He's strong. Well-trained. Your men won't be able to take him that easily."

"Not one on one though, but one against twenty? If he thinks you've been harmed?"

A lump formed in her throat. "You wouldn't hurt him," she tried, unable to keep her voice from breaking. "He's Oz's beloved Captain of the Guard. What would the people think?"

"Whatever I tell them," the Wizard answered. "That you did it."

Jinora stared at him, horrified. "You're disgusting."

"And you're the Wicked Witch of the West," he said simply. "I didn't want it to have to come to this, but one or both of you will get hurt if you don't cooperate." He smiled, and Jinora wanted nothing more than to punch it right off his face. "You have a few more minutes to think my offer over."

Jinora thought of Kai and twisted the engagement ring on her finger. "Fine," her voice shook. "I'll surrend-"

"Jinora, no!" Kai burst through the door, barely held back by two guards. A few more grabbed him, forcing him down onto his knees. Kai had a bloody nose and a few scratches on his face, but other than that he didn't seem to be injured.

Jinora forgot about the danger and almost ran to him when she caught herself and stopped short. She longed to hold him and heal his injuries, but she kept her arms pinned firmly at her sides. The guards looked fierce, ready to strike back at the captain that had betrayed him. All except one: a tall one in the back, with black hair that spiked in every direction and stern amber eyes.

"I'll do whatever you want," Jinora said to the Wizard in a soft, shaking voice. "Just, please, don't hurt him."

Her eyes stung as a guard forced her hands into handcuffs, her wrists shackled together, painfully tight. She heard Kai call out to her as she was led out of the room, but she didn't look back, for both of their sakes.

 _at long long last, receive your due, long overdue_

Kai had broken away from the guards and had been running through the hallway for over half an hour in his mad search before he heard footsteps. He took a fighting stance, ready to take on whatever was coming out of the darkness, when…

"Kai, you've got to get out of here." Kai recognized his voice before he could even make out Mako's sharp features.

"Mako? What are you doing here?" he hissed.

"I was forced to become a guard," he explained. "After Opal got your letter, a bunch of us met to talk about what our next steps were, and apparently someone saw us and reported it to Hou-Ting as 'suspicious behavior'. We all got off with a warning, and the Wizard's been trying to do what he can to keep closer tabs on us ever since. Including adding guard shifts to my duties." He put his hands on Kai's shoulders. "You need to get out of here, you and Jinora. They've upped security. They were waiting for you."

Kai opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of more guards rushing in, their weapons clanging.

Mako sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "They just had to choose tonight to be punctual." He looked at Kai apologetically. "Sorry about this." He threw a punch hard enough to, knock him out, just in time for the guards to see the scene.

"Is the prisoner ready?" one of the guards asked, a little uncertainty in his voice. It was strange to think of a man as your boss one week, and the next to have to treat him like a prisoner.

"Yes," Mako said, hoisting Kai to his feet. "He was misbehaving, so I had to knock him out. Where are we taking him?"

"The witch has asked to say goodbye," the guard explained. "And the Wizard is willing to fulfill her wish."

"Is she being executed?" Mako asked, grateful his voice didn't betray the fear he felt.

"No, the Wizard wants to use her abilities, but she will be held in prison. The…captain…will be the Wizard's collateral."

Mako nodded firmly. "Very well." He dragged Kai's unconscious body along with him and followed the other guards through the narrow hallway, and they were almost at the door when Kai's body began to rouse.

 _Oh Oz. Why did everyone have to be punctual tonight? Please don't do anything stupid…_ Mako thought to himself as Kai clumsily shoved him away.

Mako would've been fine with that if Kai, only just regaining full consciousness, hadn't also proceeded to ram himself through the crowd of guards. He could barely run straight, but that didn't matter; he just needed to get to the door first. To somehow find Jinora.

Mako seized Kai's arms before he could do anything else wrong. "You're being brought to her, calm down," he hissed in his ear so the other guards couldn't hear.

Kai was still tense, but he at least stopped struggling against him. Mako rolled his eyes. Finally, some sense was being knocked into the kid (literally). Mako led him down a corridor and up a few flights of stairs to a tiny room in a tower with no windows and only the one door.

"I'll go in with him," Mako volunteered, glad for the opportunity for a chance to talk with Kai and Jinora without being overheard. They needed a way out of this somehow.

Kai bolted into the room as soon as the door was open. Jinora was chained down, but she smiled so radiantly once she saw him. They kissed for so long until Mako coughed.

"Survival, remember?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

Jinora flushed. "Right. Um…thanks."

It was strange, in a way. Mako had never actually ever seen her up close, only wildly inaccurate propaganda posters. She was much prettier than they made her out to be, and much younger. Maybe a year or two younger than Kai. It made him sad, to see how old her eyes were on her young face.

"So, the plan?" Mako said, looking at both of them expectantly.

"The Wizard took my broom, but all I need is another one to get out of here," Jinora said. "I need to get out of the palace to actually use magic, though. Is there anyway out the palace, a balcony or something?"

"Yes," Kai and Mako said together.

"But they're not going to keep you and Kai together," Mako added. "They know if they don't separate you, you'll leave together."

"Then Kai leaves without me," Jinora said thoughtfully. "I can find my own way out, and once he's out of danger, I won't have to hold back."

"What? No," Kai protested. "They've been hunting you down for years. They've been waiting to…" he didn't want to finish the sentence, as if all the horrible things he'd imagined happening to her would come true once he said it. "If they know they can't keep you in line, they'll kill you."

Jinora gave him a strained smile. "I can live with that."

"Not funny," Kai said, his voice cracking. "Let me stay, I can be their puppet again for a little while."

A guard rapped on the door. "Time's up! The Wizard wants to talk to the witch."

Kai pressed his lips to Jinora's as the doors opened until he was pulled away from her. "Want me to take him away, sir?" a guard asked.

"No," the Wizard said smoothly as he entered the small room. "Let him stay. She might need some… incentive."

Jinora struggled against her chains. "Don't touch him."

"I won't have to, if you cooperate," the Wizard said with a smile. "Now-"

It happened before Mako could realize; in one swift motion Kai had lunged forward, grabbed Mako's sword from its sheath and tackled the Wizard down to the ground, then dragged him up against the wall with the sword pressed to the Wizard's throat.

"Make one move and I kill him," Kai threatened darkly. The Wizard spluttered, eyes wide.

"Now Kai, m'boy, be reasonable-"

Kai dug the knife in deeper so a little line of blood trailed along the blade. "Shut it, you. Guard, unchain her. Now."

A bearded guard holding the keys quickly made his way to Jinora, fumbling before finally finding the right key. Her chains unlocked with a click.

"Give her the broom and her bookbag," Kai commanded, and the skinny guard that was holding them threw them to her. Jinora caught them with shaking hands. "Now go," he ordered. He swallowed hard, his eyes pleading with her for once not to argue with him. She opened her mouth, but Kai cut her off. "Go, Jinora. _Please_."

Jinora's eyes met his, a silent _I love you_ , passing between them, her lower lip quivering.

"It's gonna be alright. I'll be fine," he promised, knowing he wouldn't be able to keep this one either.

Jinora took a shaky breath, and the guards practically threw themselves at the walls to get out of her way. After one last look, she quickly mounted her broom and flew out the door.

Kai breathed a sigh of relief once she was out of sight, then looked back at the Wizard, glaring. The balding man was quivering, his double-chin chafing under the sword. It would have been so easy to just end him, and end the cause of all their strife.

No. He'd come to justice, but not like this. Kai removed the sword and dropped it.

The Wizard coughed and brought a hand to his neck. "Guards, take him to the interrogation room. I'll join you once I've…caught my breath."

Kai's stomach dropped. He knew the interrogation room well; when he was training as Captain of the Guard, he had to stand watch with Korra as the specially-appointed "interrogation assistants" beat criminals and prisoners, sometimes to death.

Two of the guards grabbed Kai by the arms and began to drag him away; he didn't put up a fight. Mako stepped forward to intervene, but stopped short when Kai shook his head at him. Mako crossed his arms at him, but complied.

As Kai was dragged away. Mako shook his head again. _Stupid kid_.

"Hey," the bearded guard said, tapping Mako's shoulder, "aren't you coming to watch?"

Mako forced a smile. "No, I've heard they get repetitive after a while. I think my shift just ended, so tell the Wizard I said goodnight, and that I'll be working on finding the witch once I get home."

The man laughed at him, his large belly bouncing. "You work too hard! But suit yourself."

Mako nodded politely at him as he left, then made his way out of the Wizard's palace himself, careful to appear as collected as possible.

His mind was racing. As he walked down the littered streets of the Emerald City, he wracked his brain trying to figure out what to do next. One thing he knew for sure: he wasn't going back home.

He then broke into a sprint, turning into a road that would eventually lead to an outlying suburb. He hated to have to disturb Korra and Asami at this hour, but there wasn't really any other choice.

He only hoped they'd be able to find some way to fix this mess.


	18. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Chapter 18: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

 _when they beat him, let him feel no pain_

Kai grunted as he received another blow to the face, and it felt like the air had been taken out of him as a club hit him in the stomach.

He was chained to the wall and on his knees, his face swollen, blood staining his clothes, with at least two broken ribs. He chuckled humourlessly at the knowledge that the Wizard was actually having his interrogation assistants go easy on him. He had seen worse; he was prepared for it to be worse. As long as it kept Jinora safe.

Kai cried out despite himself as one of the guard's clubs slammed against his head. A purple bruise was blossoming over his cheek, blood running down from a gash above his right eyebrow. He could taste the blood in his mouth, blood pouring down from his broken nose.

"Stop," came the Wizard's voice. He stepped forward. "Now, Kai," he said gently, "I'll ask you again. Where is the witch? I know you know where she is."

Kai looked up at him through one swollen eyelid, glaring. He spat at the Wizard, his bloody mess of saliva staining the Wizard's shoes.

"Should I hit him again, sir?" one of the assistants asked through their green masks, holding their club a little too eagerly.

"No," the Wizard replied simply. "You've both been working hard. You can take a break. I want to have a talk with our dear captain."

Shrugging at one another, the assistants left, and only the Wizard remained.

The Wizard gave him a sympathetic smile that Kai saw right through. "You had everything. The world was your oyster. It can still be. Have a drink," he offered, holding up a bottle of green liquid. Kai's eyes widened. Why did that look familiar? Kai pushed the thought away; it didn't matter. "It doesn't have to be this way."

"Go to hell," Kai croaked.

The Wizard sighed, shaking his head. "You threw it all away, for her. Why? Why all this trouble for this witch? How can you love something so wicked?"

"The only wicked one is you," Kai snarled through his bloody teeth. "You can do whatever you want to me, but I will never let you touch her."

The Wizard shook his head. "You could have been so much. Both you and Jinora." He sighed, as if tired, and called for Hou-Ting. She came into the room, somehow looking more sour-faced than she had the last time he'd seen her.

"Yes, your wizardship?" Hou-Ting asked in a monotone voice.

"Madame, I'll be requiring a muting spell. Do you think you can manage it?"

"Of course, your wonderfulness. Anything else?" she asked, glancing quickly at Kai.

"Yes," the Wizard said. "I'd appreciate it greatly if you could gather the people under the publicity balcony today." He turned his head back to Kai, a dark look in his eyes. "It's time for the people of Oz to see their beloved Captain of the Guard again."

 _one question haunts and hurts too much, too much to mention_

Jinora was flying fast, faster than she'd ever gone before. The trip she and Kai had taken in two days was finished in half a day, and it was already late afternoon the next day when she landed in the familiar balcony of the mansion they'd shared for that blissful week and a half.

She wasted no time in digging the Grimmerie out of her bag. She ran over and dropped it on the bed, opened it, and frantically flipped through its pages.

A spell on one of the last pages caught her eye. Though the words were still basically gibberish, something in her mind clicked and recognized it as a protection spell. It would have to do.

She started waving her hands around the book, concentrating hard on the words. " _Eleka nahmen, nahmen, atum atum, eleka nahmen…. Eleka nahmen, nahmen, atum, atum, eleka nahmen_ …"

Her mind wandered to Kai. There was a multitude of things that could have happened when she left, but…he was too valuable to Oz. The Wizard couldn't do anything too bad to him, right?

She thought of his once smiling face, broken and bloodied. She thought of his strong arms, twisted and mangled. Were they still beating him? She wondered how long Kai would last. Was there even anything left of him to hurt? She choked down a sob.

" _Eleka nahmen, nahmen, atum atum, eleka…eleka…_ " The words blurred as tears sprung to her eyes. She hated this. She hated this stupid book, the stupid Wizard, these stupid words that she alone could read, and this stupid government that had put her love in harm's way. Angrily, she took the book and threw it against the wall. What would it matter? She had taken too long to run, because _he_ had told her to, taken too long to cast any spell that might help. She didn't even understand what she was saying.

Images of Kai's blood on the floor kept flashing to her mind. Was he already maimed beyond recognition? Or…dead?

More images popped into her mind's eye. Ikki, once beautiful and full of energy, now crushed and rotting under a splintered house somewhere in Munchkinland. Dr. Laghima, a trembling husk of who he once was in a crate in the Wizard's palace. Kai…

She looked from the mirror, to the bed, to the engagement ring on her left hand. The bedroom seemed so empty and cold, the scene of prayers that wouldn't be answered. Had she and Kai really been here only days ago, happy and caught up in their bliss? She should have known it was too good to last. Nothing good ever lasted, and if she had one good thing in her life, it was Kai. It had always been him. She thought of his gentle touch, his loud laughter, his lopsided smile, his low voice, the twinkle in his eye, the way his hair felt in her hands…

 _To be continued?_

 _To be continued._

Her heart could no longer take it. She broke into tears, wailing loudly on the floor. Every time she tried to do something good, it backfired and ended in tragedy. Every time she tried to take a step forward, she would be pushed two steps back. Every time she found something to appreciate in life, it was taken from her. Everyone she'd ever loved had been torn violently away from her, and she was tired. She was tired of fighting, tired of losing, tired of playing this game she'd never win. Here she was, the Wicked Witch of the West, reduced to a lost little girl with nothing but her tears and her memories.

 _The Wicked Witch of the West_. She'd spent the past three years trying to convince herself that those words weren't true, that she was really good, deep down. The only person that had worked even harder to convince her was now either being beaten, or tortured, or rotting away in a cell somewhere, his blood running onto the floor.

Her body wracked with sobs, and she screamed so loudly for the boy that couldn't hear her she thought her throat would rip apart. She stubbornly tried to wipe the tears away, trying to pull herself together. She should have been faster. She should have acted before Kai had the chance. She should have fought harder.

Jinora wept, but it still didn't feel like enough. She had never known pain like this. Why hadn't she stayed? Torture under the Wizard must have been better than this. Anything must be better than this.

Jinora had always thought she would be the one to die first. She had always thought Kai would see it in the papers one day, and she had possibly hoped he would mourn her, and then he would move on. She had never thought she'd lose him, not like this.

She had been so foolish, Jinora realized. Why had she ever thought they could be together without harming him? Everything she touched died. Kai had been wrong. She was wicked, if she couldn't save him then she _was_ wicked.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, catching a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. Kai hadn't covered it with the sheet again, after they had finished with it. Her tear-streaked face and bloodshot eyes stared back at her. She looked at her engagement ring, the last thing she had of him. "I'm sorry."

It hurt more to know that Kai would understand. That he would gladly take every blow for her. It would have been easier if he would be angry with her. Hate her, even. Hate her just like the rest of Oz.

She couldn't lose what she didn't have. Jinora prayed that he'd survive, somehow. Even if that meant she didn't.

 _was i really seeking good? or just seeking attention?_

"Citizens of Oz," Hou-Ting said into the microphone, "our dear Captain of the Guard has returned to us. Unfortunately, he is badly wounded, and is too disturbed to speak." The press secretary was gripping Kai's arm tightly, and he would've yelped in pain if he'd had any ability to use his voice. "He wanted us to bring him forward, to show you the damage the witch has wrought. Yes, even our great Captain of the Guard wasn't a match for her in the end. Not alone. To defeat this great evil, we must band together, to bring her down, once and for all."

Kai wanted to scream, to yell at the citizens gathered around to stop believing every lie they heard. To tell them the truth. That the Wicked Witch of the West wasn't wicked at all, but kind and smart and caring and beautiful…

The words fought to rise from his throat, but the spell was too strong for him to counter with sheer willpower. He glared ahead in silence.

"Tonight, we will be taking volunteers to lead the witch hunt. Those brave enough to face the greatest evil of our time will be rewarded generously by our wonderful Wizard." Hou-Ting smiled to the public as they cheered. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. The captain must be taken back to the Wizard's quarters now; he is very tired and must be healed at once." More cheers bubbled up from their audience as he was dragged away.

He was pulled back into the interrogation room, where he was chained up against the wall by the assistants once again. Hou-Ting made a quick gesture with her hands, and he gasped as he felt the forced silence fall from his lips.

"Why do you do this?" he asked angrily. "You're more powerful than the Wizard. Why do you go along with everything he says?"

"Where I outmatch him in power, he outmatches me in influence," Hou-Ting replied simply. "It makes more sense than throwing away a lucrative position for a green tart."

Kai bared his teeth and tried to lunge at her, but was held back by his bonds. "Don't _ever_ talk about her like that! She _trusted_ you. I trusted you. You turned on her when she was hardly out of childhood."

Hou-Ting looked at him coldly. "There's one thing you have to know about this world," she said in a cool, low voice. "Trust is for fools."

He glowered at her. "No matter what you say about her, you're more of a monster than she'll ever be."

"Maybe," she said with a small shrug, "but the fact remains that I'm one of the most important people in Oz, and she's the most hunted."

The door swung open before Kai could reply. It was the Wizard, in new shoes, looking somehow fresher and more bright-eyed. "Well, Madame Hou-Ting, I must say that that impromptu press conference was a rousing success! Volunteers for the witch hunt have been lining up just within the past few minutes! Now," he said, looking to Kai, "if only someone could tell us where she is."

"Drop dead," Kai barked.

The Wizard shook his head. "What a stubborn boy. No matter, we'll get it out of you eventually." He snapped his fingers, and one of the interrogation assistants stepped forward with a club. Kai braced himself for the impact, when it ricocheted off some invisible wall around him.

Everyone stared in surprise, before the assistant tried to take another swing. He was met with the same outcome.

"You couldn't have cast this spell," Hou-Ting said to Kai, stunned. "It's…too powerful."

"Jinora," the Wizard said. "When she escaped, she must have known we were going to try to get information out of him."

"But I enchanted the palace to suppress her magic touch," Hou-Ting said. "It was a high-level spell that catered specifically to her brand of magic."

"She must have cast it from outside," the Wizard replied grimly. "Dear Oz, this is very inconvenient."

Kai smirked at them. "You underestimated her. And you've underestimated me." He chanted an incantation as quickly as he could, concentrating hard. He had to take advantage of any time he had not being beaten or writhing in pain. At least this spell required no hand gestures.

Before anyone could say anything, Kai flashed out of the room, leaving his chains empty.

Hou-Ting turned to the Wizard and glared. "'Just cast a spell that will suppress Jinora's power,' you said. 'We don't need to worry about anyone else,' you said." She scoffed and walked past him out the door. "Call me when you've cleaned up your mess."

The Wizard leaned against the wall and sighed exasperatedly. This was proving to be a very long day.

A knock was heard at the door. "Come in," the Wizard said. A guard walked in, straight-backed and stoic.

"Sir, a girl named Dorothy is here to see you. She says she's from a land called Kansas."

The Wizard's ears perked up. "Oh? Well then, tell her to wait for me. I'll be right on over."

 _is that all good deeds are when looked at with an ice cold eye?_

Kai's escape spell had only brought him just outside of the heart of the Emerald City. It wasn't all that impressive as far as distance, and he had wished he would have had the strength to will himself all the way to Kiamo Ko, but it was enough for now.

He ran as fast as his tired beaten legs could carry him. Blood dripped from his head and his arms and the side of his ribs ached, but he couldn't stop. He had to find some way to get to Jinora.

Everything around him was so out-of-touch and blurry that he didn't realize that someone was in his way until he crashed into them. He cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Dizzily, he looked up to see who it was, and had to rub his eyes for a moment to make sure that he wasn't hallucinating.

"Bolin?"

"Oh Oz, Kai," he gasped, his green eyes pooling with tears and his thick eyebrows furrowed together in worry. "Mako came and told all of us that you were in trouble, but I never thought it would be this bad." He wrapped an arm around him to support him. "Come on, little bro. We've got to get you to Korra's, and fast."

Kai coughed hard, the action stinging his throat. "No…have to…get to Jinora…" He grunted, frustrated at how hard it was to even speak. "Have to warn her…"

"We have to get you fixed up first," Bolin insisted, practically carrying him along. "We're already trying to figure out how to get you back to her. But you won't be as much help to her like this."

Too tired to object, Kai simply nodded as Bolin took him away to the only family besides Jinora that he had left.

He hoped they wouldn't be too late.


	19. March of The Witch Hunters

Chapter 19: March of The Witch Hunters

 _wickedness must be punished_

Otaku stood on a platform beside his two traveling companions (and, he realized, his new friends), looking out at gathered Ozians solemnly. His metallic body shone in the light of his torch.

If he had a heart, he knew it would be burning with anger and vengeance in this moment. Whatever pity he may have had for Jinora had vanished the moment he saw what she had done to him, and to Kai, and now here he was, leading the witch hunt against Jinora, with dozens of other Ozians, armed with torches and pitchforks, finally brave enough to seek out justice.

"Fellow citizens!" Otaku called out in a loud voice. "Thank you for joining me tonight. Tonight, we seek justice!" Cheers roared from the crowd. "I have a personal score to settle with Jino-" Otaku paused, biting back the name that had threatened to escape his lips. She didn't deserve to be mentioned by name anymore. Not after what she and her sister did to him. He was done bending over backwards for the Thropp girls. "…with the _witch_!" The crowd booed loudly at the mention of her, with cries of "Bring her down!" and "Kill her!" popping out from their mob. "She's the reason I'm like this. Tin and heartless… She did this to me! Well, for once, I'm glad I'm heartless, so I can be heartless killing her!" The vitriol in his voice almost shocked him, but he never backed down. "And I'm not the only one!" He tried to pull Foo Foo Snugglypoops forward, but he shook his great horned head vigorously. "Come _on_ , Foo."

"No," Foo Foo said, shaking his head and trembling. Otaku rolled his eyes.

"This Moose Lion also has a grievance to repay!" he continued. "The witch wouldn't let him fight his own battles when he was young, driven by her overzealous desire to coddle all Animals, keeping them from rising to the occasion. If she'd only let him fight for himself, maybe he wouldn't be a coward today!"

More angry cheers rose from the crowd.

Otaku then turned to Dorothy, who looked even smaller in the light of the torches. "Do you want to come forward?" he asked gently.

Dorothy shook her head, also fearful. Not as fearful as their Moose Lion companion, but very much a scared little girl caught in a war that she didn't understand. "No, thank you," she responded gently, her face pale. "Please, I don't want to kill anyone. I just want to go home."

Otaku looked at the young girl solemnly. "She's a criminal and a monster. She took away my flesh and my beating heart. She needs to be punished."

Dorothy frowned, looking so out of place in their setting. She was so young, so fresh-faced, with wavy brown pigtails that fell to her shoulders making her look even more innocent. "Auntie Em told me never to hurt anyone. Even if you have to do this, I can't. Not even if the Wizard says I should. I just want to go home."

He nodded gently. "I understand."

The young girl's wide blue eyes shone with tears. "Is she going to…hurt me? I didn't mean to hurt her sister, let alone kill her, but I understand why she seems so angry with me…"

Memories of Ikki flashed through his mind, and he knew that if he still had a heart, he'd feel a twinge in it.

But, as luck would have it, he didn't.

Her innocence almost reminded him of Ikki, back in their days at Shiz. The look in this young girl's eyes was still softer and meeker, but twinkled in almost the same way when she was laughing or smiling. For one unguarded moment, Otaku thought that if things had been different between him and Ikki, maybe Dorothy would have been like the daughter they might have had.

Otaku wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I won't let her hurt you. I promise."

Dorothy gave him a small smile. "Thank you. You've been a lovely friend."

He nodded back with a smile, before turning back to the mob and raising his voice once more. "Let's bring this witch down, once and for all!"

A final deafening cheer rose from the crowd, and Otaku led them all in the direction that he'd seen the flying lemurs head. Jinora must have freed them, of course they would follow her wherever she went. It was only a hunch, but it was all he had for now.

Within the next few days, Otaku was determined to make sure the Wicked Witch of the West finally fell.

 _evil effectively eliminated_

Opal was still dabbing away the blood from Kai's face when Korra burst in with wide eyes and messy hair. She was still panting as her mouth tried to form words. Opal, Asami, Bolin, and Mako looked up immediately.

"Guys, the witch hunt is starting. Now. The escaped lemurs followed Jinora to wherever she went, and they're following them." Korra took a few more hurried breaths. "If we're going to do something, we have to do it now."

The group looked to one another, eyes wide and brows furrowed.

"Jinora…no…" Kai groaned. He sat himself up on the couch, grabbing his side.. "I have to go to her."

Opal tried to push him back into his reclining position. "You're still recovering. You need to rest-"

"No," Kai said, pushing away Opal's hand. "There's no time. I'm fine. I'll be fine. I just… I have to go to her." Opal took her hand away, and didn't stop him when he stood up. She was the only other person in the room who knew that stopping him would be unproductive.

"Do you know exactly where she is?" Asami asked.

"Kiamo Ko," Kai answered without skipping a beat. "My family has an estate there. We were there for over a week. I told her to go back there if anything went wrong, and, well, it went about as wrong as it could go."

"Just let me take a look at your ribs," Korra requested, her voice firm. "I'm good with healing magic."

Kai sighed. "Fine." He grimaced as Korra's hands glowed and she waved it over his injured side.

Korra's hands stopped glowing, and she took a step away. "It should feel better now."

Kai tentatively poked his side, expecting the intense pain he had grown accustomed to, instead finding his skin feeling only tender. "It feels a lot better now. Thanks, Korra. All of you."

Korra smiled. "Don't thank us yet. We've still gotta get you to your girlfriend. Or I guess, fiancee." She looked up at Asami. "Hey, you know that project you were working on for fun?"

Asami widened her eyes at Korra. "You mean the project that's only had two test runs and still needs to go through at least a dozen diagnostics?"

"And both test runs were successful, right?"

"Well…yeah…"

"Then that's good enough." Korra walked over to her wife and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're a brilliant engineer. I believe in you."

Asami flushed and smiled up at her.

"Hold on," Bolin said. "What are you guys talking about?"

Korra and Asami looked to one another, then to the rest of the group. "I've been working on a totally different project than I usually do," Asami said. "Magical transportation. I call it the Bubble. It's made of a new material Opal's brother worked on that's clear and shatter-proof, though water and dust and anything else that can get on it has to be wiped away by magic. We're still working on that." She smiled sheepishly. "This first prototype runs purely on magic, but the revolutionary idea of this technology is that it only has to be fueled by magic, not enchanted. I'm not totally in touch with how said magic works, but Korra and the other sorcerers that I've worked with have summed it up by saying that it's more like blowing air into a balloon than making one just fly on its own. Just heat up the inside of the Bubble with a little magic and you're off. Though navigation's still kind of iffy. We set up a heat-sensing steering system for that, but it always likes to pull to the left."

"Is it the quickest way to Jinora?" Kai asked.

"Only thing faster is an enchanted broom, apparently," Asami replied. "But levitation spells were never your forte, right?"

"No," Kai shook his head, bitterly regretting it. "Just give me the Bubble. I need to go."

Asami nodded swiftly. "Follow me to the backyard."

She and Korra started on their way, but as Kai tried to follow, Bolin stopped him momentarily. "Be careful, little bro," he said.

"Bolin," Kai said, trying to mask his irritation, "I have to go."

Opal gently pulled her husband away. "Good luck, Kai," she said. Kai caught Mako sending him a single nod. Kai then swiftly walked to the back door and followed Asami out to the yard.

The Bubble pretty much looked like a literal giant bubble of glass, with a few strange patterns along the sides and one door. It looked simple, but he'd be able to see where he was going, and he'd be able to make it to Jinora within a day if he didn't stop. All he had to do was get there before the angry mob.

Asami opened the door for him and he entered, standing on the little flat surface at the bottom. (Asami had really thought of everything, even user-friendliness.)

She closed the door behind him and gave him a single short nod. "Good luck," she said softly.

Korra came up next to Asami and wrapped an arm around her. "Go get her."

He nodded back at them, then rubbed his hands together and willed his magic to work. Just a little heat…

He spread the heat of his hands around the sides of the Bubble, and before long, it floated off into the air.

 _because wickedness must be punished, punished, punished for good_

Jinora looked out at the sky from the balcony, grinning when she saw Momo and a group of other lemurs flying towards her, a little girl with red slippers clutched in their feet.

"Take her down to the basement, please," Jinora requested. The lemurs swooped down and did as she said. The girl started wailing in the most unbecoming manner.

"I'm sorry!" she cried.

"If you're so sorry, then you'll have your shoes off within the next hour!" Jinora snapped back as Dorothy was carried away. Once the door leading to the basement was shut, she shook her head. "Taking a dead woman's shoes," she muttered to herself. "Must've been raised in a barn."

Some part of her felt pity for the girl, but she quickly squashed it. Pity meant caring, and caring meant losing, and she couldn't lose anything else. Not again. In an hour, she would have the last trace of her sister, and then she could work on trying to figure out what happened to Kai. Part of her didn't want to know. He was probably dead; she couldn't see any reason why the Wizard would keep him alive. Sooner or later, Kai would become a liability. But she wanted to see the body: to say goodbye.

 _kill the witch_

Momo chittered at the window after almost an hour had passed and Jinora looked sharply at the lemur. "What is it?"

Her heart leapt to her throat. It couldn't be. "Kai?"

The Bubble fell away as he landed on the balcony, a smile spreading across his bruised and battered face. "Jinora."


	20. For Good

Chapter 20: For Good

 _limited, just look at me_

She simply stared at him for a moment, as if she couldn't quite believe he was in front of her. Injured, but alive and otherwise well. It hurt to see the blood on his face, the scars forming. Pain. He had taken it for her.

Jinora took a few slow steps toward him, and reached out to touch his face. His skin was warm under her hand, just how she'd remembered it. She began to tremble. She had thought she'd never touch him again, or see his smile.

"You," she breathed.

Kai held her hand to his face, smiling against her touch. "Me."

Her hands shook. "But you were…"

"Tortured? Beaten? You should know that it'll take more than a beating to get rid of me." He gave her a weak, lopsided smile.

Tears streamed down Jinora's face. "I… I thought I lost you," her voice wavered. "I…" She pulled him into a tight hug, gripping the back of his shirt tightly. Kai winced, the contact slightly painful, but he drew her closer to him anyway. Her entire body was shaking with barely suppressed sobs. Kai rubbed circles into her back.

"I'm here now," Kai said gently, and Jinora remembered.

She pushed him away from her. "Kai… you can't stay here. Go." She could barely choke the words out.

Kai looked at her, alarmed. "What? Why?"

"We can't… I can't do this. Not to you. I can't have you suffer any more on my account." Jinora turned away from him, holding back a sob. She couldn't give in. She had to stay strong. For his sake. She couldn't do this to him. Not to him. She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting to see the room that had been the scene of so many of her happiest moments with him.

"Being away from you is more painful than anything the Wizard could do to me," Kai said, his voice cracking, and she wanted to believe it. He tried to meet her eyes, panic clawing at his throat. This couldn't be happening. "I don't care, Jinora-"

"But I do," Jinora said, crying freely. " _I care_. And everything I care about always goes wrong or dies and I can't let it happen to you. Not again." Jinora wiped her eyes, turning back to him and reaching up to cup his face, her fingers trailing over the cuts and bruises. "Look at what they did to you. Because of _me_." She took a step back, struggling to strengthen her resolve.

"Jinora, please don't do this, " Kai begged, when there was a loud crying sound. His brow furrowed. "Um… what is that?"

"That little farmgirl brat has my sister's shoes," Jinora said sourly, glad for the distraction.

"You…" Kai stared at her. "You have Dorothy in the basement?"

"Yes," Jinora replied, as if it was obvious. "I have a timer set to cast a spell for the shoes to come off. The overdramatic little thing thinks she's going to die."

Kai shook his head in disbelief. "Look, Jin…" The sound of her nickname made her want to cry, and she didn't try to pull away when he cupped her face with his hands, struggling to meet his eyes. "Jinora, please. We can run. We can hide, we can be safe. Just give it some more time."

"And then what, Kai? I'm… I'm so tired." Her voice broke. "I can't do this, any of this anymore… Just look at me. I'm limited." She almost smiled. "But just look at you - you're still in the people's good graces. You can do all I couldn't do. So now it's up to you… for both of us."

Kai realized what she was saying. "What? Jinora, no-" Tears pooled in his eyes. "Jinora, no, don't talk like that - I'll tell everyone the truth about you, and the Wizard!"

Jinora shook her head, smiling sadly. "No. They'll just turn against you. But you can stillmake a difference. You can change Oz for the better."

"You are not leaving me behind!" Kai shouted desperately. "Not again! I can't do it… not again."

Kai was shaking, and it took all of Jinora's willpower to not try to comfort him. It would make it harder, in the end.

"Dorothy's little friends are coming for her, I'm sure. The witch hunters are, too. You can kill me-" Kai opened his mouth to protest, but Jinora cut him off. "Yes, you Kai. You have to. You'll throw the water. You'll be the hero. You'll be greater than the Wizard, untouchable. He won't be able to hurt you. The people will listen to you, just not about me. But you can save the Animals."

" _Just be selfish for once in your life!_ " Kai screamed, tears running down his cheeks. " _Just once._ For us. _Please, Jin._ "

"Kai, if you truly love me, do this for me." Jinora slowly slid the engagement ring off her finger, and did a quick enlargement charm on it before she placed it in Kai's hand. "As a last favour. A last promise. One we'll keep this time."

Kai saw the same conviction he had seen, a fire in her eyes that wouldn't go out, that he had seen the day they had chosen their paths. And now they were choosing their endings. Kai swallowed hard. "Alright. I promise."

Jinora smiled a little, and handed him the Grimmerie. "It's yours now."

"You know I can't read it," Kai said softly.

"You can learn how to," Jinora answered. "I have faith in you."

Kai smiled shakily. "I've heard it said," he began slowly, setting the book down and taking Jinora's hands in his own. "That people come into our lives for a reason." He thought of who he had been, a foolish boy who had no purpose, nothing to fight for, the world handed to him on a silver platter. Who had been too scared (Jinora had always been the brave one). And now he had to be the brave one.

"Bringing something we must learn," he continued, smiling faintly. What hadn't Jinora taught him? She had taught how to be brave, how to be a friend. How to love. Oz above was he thankful. "And we are led to those, who help us most to grow, if we let them." He had dug in his heels, fought against it in that first month. What he wouldn't give to go back and do it all again.

"I don't know if I believe that's true." He cupped one side of her face. "But I know I'm who I am today, because I knew you."

Jinora smiled tearfully. "This might be the end of our red string, but you'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart. And no matter how this ends, you've rewritten my story." She gave his hand a squeeze. "By being my friend." She thought back to three years ago, during her start at Shiz, and even further than that, as a lonely little girl that had learned to defend herself from the world. And then he'd come into her life, disruptive and loud, breaking down her walls, forcing her out of her shell. Showing her unconditional love.

"And who can say if I've been changed for the better," she said, her smile growing slightly. "But because I knew you, I have been changed for good." She stroked his hand with her thumb, reaching up to wipe her eyes. A lump formed in her throat. "And I'm sorry, for any of the pain I've caused you."

"I'm sorry too," Kai said, trying to smile for her.

Jinora swallowed the lump in her throat. "I wouldn't change it. Any of it. You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

"I'm pretty sure I should be saying that to you," Kai said, a feeble attempt at a joke. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Positive." Jinora tried to sound more confident than she felt. "You're going to do extraordinary things, Kai, and I… I am so proud of you."

Kai swallowed hard, smiling weakly. "You always brought out the best in me." He took the engagement ring and slid it onto his finger. "I love you."

Jinora's voice hitched. They'd said those words to one another so many times, but this…this felt so final. This was the first time she had ever truly heard them. Despite everything she had put him through, he still loved her. Which was why she had to do this.

"I love you, too," she said, crying as she pressed her lips to his. His arms wrapped around her tightly, and it took everything in her to pull away. Kai reluctantly let her go, her hands sliding out of his. She walked over to a corner and came back with a wooden bucket filled with water.

Kai looked at it, choking down a sob. "This is it?"

"This is it," she confirmed. He took it with shaking hands.

She stepped away to the center of the room, standing on top of one of the many trap doors in the house. "When they come, you'll know what to do."

"But…we both know it was a rumour," Kai said in a wavering voice, "water melting you."

She smiled sadly at him. "The difference is magic water. I guess we'll find out if it worked soon enough."

Kai wanted to throw the bucket away - he wanted to scream and throw it as far away as possible, and find some way to convince her that she didn't have to do this. But he knew she wouldn't change her mind. Not even for him. (It was the one of the things he loved about her.)

"Jinora?" he called out to her, as she opened her mouth to give the command that would end everything. "I believe… I _know_ , you've changed me for the better."

Jinora's eyes crinkled. "Thank you. For everything." Jinora gave him one last look, one last smile, before the doors flew open with an invisible force, and the young farmgirl, accompanied by a man made of tin - Otaku? - and a Moose Lion burst through, followed by guards, and lemurs dressed in clothing.

Kai's hands shook as he threw the water, and it hit Jinora with full force. He watched as her face changed to an expression of pain, and her scream pierced his ears as she slowly melted to nothing. Only her black hat, the gift from him so long ago, was left.

Kai felt everyone's eyes on him, her scream still ringing in his ears. "Go."

"Kai," Otaku began.

Kai could barely control himself. "Just go. You're safe now."

He waited until they closed the door, and then dropped to his knees. This was worse than the torture he had been subjected to, and it felt like everything was crashing down on top of him, and it was so hard to breathe he didn't want to anymore. His trembling hands reached for Jinora's hat, and he curled in on himself, his body wracked with sobs. This was pain beyond the imaginable, and he knew as long as he lived the sight of Jinora's face, the sound of her scream - the pain that _he_ had caused - would haunt him.

And this time, she wouldn't be there to convince him otherwise.

"Mister…Kai…" a small voice said, breaking the silence around him. He turned to see Momo's face, looking up at him, holding out a glimmering object. "Kai," Momo said again. Kai almost smiled. Jinora had to have been teaching Momo to talk. If only she could have been around to hear it.

It was her butterfly comb, still sparkling as it did the day he first saw it. He took it gingerly, and gave the Lemur a grateful nod. Momo scampered off, leaving Kai alone.

"Pink still goes good with green," Kai said softly, pocketing the comb. He would never give it to her again. He remembered tucking it in her hair, that first night he had started to think of her as a friend. The lullaby she had sung.

" _Leaves from the vine,_ " he hummed. " _Falling so slow, like fragile, tiny shells, drifting in the foam. Little… soldier girl, comes marching home. Brave soldier girl…_ " He managed the tiniest smile, blinking back tears for only a few moments. Jinora was at peace now. " _Comes marching home_ ," he sobbed.

 _because i knew you, i have been changed for good_

The news was broadcast all across Oz: the Wicked Witch of the West was dead. Melted by the great Captain Kai, their constant, fearless protector. The Captain had returned to the Emerald City in glory, as everyone celebrated the death of the witch.

No one mourned the wicked. Except for him.


	21. The Truth

Chapter 21: The Truth

 _i am a sentimental man_

He walked into the Wizard's main room, back hunched over, with dark circles under his eyes. Hou-Ting and the Wizard were sitting at the foot of the mechanical face, talking.

"I don't see why you're so disappointed with yourself," Hou-Ting said, "they seemed perfectly happy with their hearts and courage and whatever else. And offering a hot air balloon ride to the girl was a marvelous idea."

The Wizard grunted in agreement, looking exhausted himself. He took a swig of that same green bottle Kai had seen earlier, and then it clicked.

"Oh! Captain," Hou-Ting exclaimed. They couldn't exactly chuck him in prison after he had killed the witch, successfully completing Jinora's last act of protection. "I thought you'd be out…celebrating." She gave him a simpering smile.

"Not funny," Kai snapped. He walked over to the Wizard. "I've seen that bottle before. Three years ago."

The Wizard looked up at him.

"You knew Jinora's mother." It wasn't a question. "She had that same bottle. And the rumours,Governor Tenzin could never quite put them to rest. That his wife had committed an indiscretion in her youth, a few months before they met. That there was a reason for their shotgun wedding. That his firstborn child wasn't even his own." His fists were trembling at his sides, but he glared down the Wizard with all the power and authority he could muster. "She was yours. And you… you still killed her."

"There was never… any certainty," the Wizard said, uncomfortably. "I was never sure."

"She had to be," Hou-Ting said. "That would explain why she was so powerful; why she could read the Grimmerie with such ease. She was a child of two worlds."

The Wizard looked at the bottle, and seemed almost sorry, his brown eyes growing watery. "I'd always longed to be a father…"

"Now, as the most beloved person in Oz," Kai said, his voice dangerously calm, "I suggest you take a leave of absence. Indefinitely. I'll make the announcement myself: that the strains of wizardship became too much for you in your old age."

The Wizard swallowed, and he looked genuinely remorseful as he nodded. "Alright."

Kai crossed his arms. "You better get ready to join Dorothy on that hot air balloon."

The Wizard pocketed his bottle, and left.

"Wait, wait," cried Madame Hou-Ting. "You - you can't-" she spluttered.

"But I'm the most powerful and influential figure in Oz," Kai reminded her. "So I can."

"Kai, I know we've had our… miniscule differences in the past, but-"

"Guards!" he called, ignoring her. As they entered, he turned back to Hou-Ting. "Madame, have you ever considered how you'd fare in captivity?"

The former press secretary blinked at him. "I beg your pardon?"

Kai enunciated each syllable. "Cap-tiv-i-ty. Prison!" He couldn't keep the self-satisfied smirk from spreading across his face. "Personally, I don't think you'll hold up very well. My professional opinion," he said, now mimicking her lofty tone of voice, "is that you do not have what it takes. I hope you prove me wrong." Kai laughed at the look of horror on her face. "I doubt you will." He gestured to the guards. "Take her away!"

As wrong as everything had gone, Kai couldn't help but enjoy that moment, the sound of Hou-Ting's desperate protests like music to his ears.

Now that he was in charge, he figured he should pay a visit to Munchkinland. He needed to appoint someone to be the new governor or governess, and figured Opal and Bolin would take good care of them.

As for who would look after Oz, he thought Korra and Asami would do the best job. And Mako could finally take the place he deserved in the force as the new Captain of the Guard, without the fear of working under any more corruption. Kai didn't want people to look to him anymore; he was tired. For once in his life, he wanted some peace, and some privacy, to mourn Jinora as she deserved to be.

 _who always longed to be a father_

When Tenzin had retired in a small, lazy river town near Kiamo Ko, he'd vowed to himself to no longer involve himself in politics. He was so, so tired, and his eldest daughter leaving to take a stand against the Wizard had weakened his already flimsy influence. Ikki had insisted on taking over for him, reassuring him that she'd be the iron backbone that Munchkinland needed in his absence. Though he had been reluctant, he allowed her, in part so she could feel like he had faith in her abilities. He'd regretted his decision once he'd heard news of Ikki's death, and had tried to go to the Emerald City before the witch hunt could get out of hand. But it was too late when he had arrived; the streets were exploding with celebration, all for his eldest daughter's death.

Every light in his life had now been snuffed out.

He now walked through the halls of the simple, yet elegant apartment complex near the Wizard's palace, and stopped at the door number he'd been looking for. He rapped harshly on the wooden surface, and glared into the face of the man who opened it.

"…Governor Tenzin."

"Kai."

They both stared at each other for a moment, angry grey eyes boring into sad green ones. It surprised him to see just how tired the boy was, too.

"Governor Tenzin, whatever you want to do to me, just do it," Kai said, stepping aside to let him in. "Oz knows I deserve it. Just let me keep a promise I made to someone before you either kill me or discredit me. Or both."

Tenzin stepped inside, somewhat taken aback at the young man's remorse. "It's just Tenzin now," he said softly, "and I'm not going to kill you. Or hurt you. Jinora must have told you of our family's stance of pacifism." His voice wavered as he uttered his eldest daughter's name.

"Yeah, I just thought…" Kai looked at Tenzin with such a broken expression that he almost felt pity for the boy. "Why are you here, then?"

"Initially, I came to see if I could stop the…witch hunt. Or at least, slow it down. But I'm an old man with no real power anymore. I came too late." His voice grew thick, and it took everything in him to maintain his composure. "So I decided that if I had failed in saving both of my children, than I could at least seek out answers. So please, be honest with me." His voice grew steely and cold. "Why did you kill my daughter?"

Kai's gaze dropped to the floor, and Tenzin almost yelled when he didn't say anything.

" _Answer me_ ," he said through gritted teeth. "A few weeks before winter break, when you were both still in school, you defended my daughter from an attack. I saw the way you treated her and knew you loved her. So tell me, _why would you kill her_?"

Tears began streaming down the young man's cheeks, and it was in that moment that Tenzin noticed how old his eyes looked in his young face, how the light he'd seen in them back when he was a student had faded.

"I'm so _sorry_ ," Kai cried. "She…she didn't see another way out, so she handed me the bucket and told me to…" He put a hand against the wall for support, as if his knees would give out any moment. "I shouldn't have listened to her. I should have tried harder to convince her to stay, no matter how stubborn she was, I should've tried harder. But I didn't, and I killed her, just like she asked, and…" A strangled sob came out of Kai's throat. "Sir, I know that you have a stance against killing, but I'd honestly thank you if you did it after I try to keep a few more promises to Jinora, because I don't know how I'm going to live with myself."

Tenzin watched in shock as the boy seemed to crumple in on himself, burying his face in his hands and barely holding it together. Kai's body was shaking. " _It should have been me_ ," he choked out, suppressing a sob. Never mind that it didn't make sense, that it hadn't been an option. It would have been better than this.

"Kai," Tenzin began gently, hesitantly approaching the shaking man.

"Tenzin, please. If we're not discussing the funeral arrangements…Just - just go." Kai looked up at him, looking so broken that Tenzin didn't protest.

As Tenzin walked down the stairs of the apartment building, the walls he'd built up for so long began to crumble, and he couldn't help it as he slumped down onto one of the stairs and buried his hands in his face, weeping. His wife, the kindest soul he had known, taken from him too soon because he'd been too careless to stop her from chewing those milkflowers. His youngest daughter, her bright smile crushed under the foot of a political game that, in the end, no one could protect her from. And his eldest daughter, with her strong spirit, willfully taken from him, killed by the only other man besides him that would rather die than lay anything but a loving hand on her.

She'd _asked_ to be killed. She hadn't seen any other way out, and had asked Kai to kill her. She must've known that his name would be cleared if he did it. She couldn't have realized the cost, how she'd be leaving such a broken man behind.

As Tenzin felt himself crumble to nothing, he couldn't help but also feel sorry for Kai. To know that he'd had a direct hand in the death of the woman he loved…suddenly, their shared love for Jinora was no longer the only thing uniting them. At the very least, Tenzin had had two daughters to help him pick himself back up.

Kai…Kai had no one.

 _no one cries they won't return_

"Well, it depends on what you mean by friend. I did know her. That is, our paths did cross. At school. We were both young back then. We were different." He paused to swallow back the lump that was threatening to form in his throat, before he continued. "I understand your concern. We've been through a frightening time. And there will be other things that frighten us. But, if you'll let them, there are some people I trust very much that can take care of you. They're my good friends, Opal and Bolin BeiFong."

The pair smiled and bowed modestly, and Kai was happy for their attention to be diverted to Opal and Bolin. He watched them as they gave a speech, striking hope into the hearts of their new citizens.

Once they had finished, the people clapped politely and then dispersed as Kai led Opal and Bolin down to the City Hall.

"How are you doing?" Opal said softly.

Kai stiffened. "As well as can be expected," he said shortly.

Opal placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," Kai said, his voice sounding hollow even to himself. "Everybody always is. But thank you, Opal, Bolin. Really."

Bolin, tears pooling at his eyes, drew Kai into a hug. Once he pulled away, Bolin took a photo out of his pocket. "We thought you'd like to have this." He handed Kai the picture.

Kai gasped sharply, holding back a sob when he saw it was him and Jinora, the photo they had taken. _Our family portrait_. Kai hastily wiped his eyes. "T-thank you," he managed, his voice shaking. "Thank you."

Bolin smiled. "If you need someone to talk to, we're here for you."

Kai sniffled, not quite managing a smile. "I know."

 _no one lays a lily on their grave_

Kai hadn't been back to Shiz since his graduation day, and it was strange to be back at his old school. Students walked past, some waving at him, some too busy with their friends to notice the visit of their prestigious alumnus. He didn't mind. It was nice to not have so much attention drawn to him now.

He walked across the campus to the residence hall where he'd stayed for two years. Where he'd met his best friend. Where his life had changed forever.

He walked up the stairs and paused at the door to the room, chuckling softly. There had been many nights he and Jinora had just made it back to their room in time to avoid getting caught by the caretaker after a night of exploring the school, barely able to breathe from running but laughing all the same. The room had been left untouched and had never housed another pair of students. Everyone knew this was the Wicked Witch of the West's room, too terrified to even look at it, let alone occupy it.

He took hold of the knob and paused, memories flooding back to him. He never completely closed the door back then. Jinora always had to close it for him. When they had become friends, she never let him forget it. She'd normally get up from her bed, go across the room (and throw a pillow at his face while she did it) to close the door. He smiled softly at the memory.

Slowly, he opened the door. The room was empty, the desks clear and the beds without any sheets. The only thing in the room was a figure in a hooded gray cloak. He stepped back in surprise.

"Oh. Sorry," he said, standing in the doorway. "I, er, didn't realize anyone would be in here."

The cloaked person immediately got up and tried to speed past him. Their face was concealed.

"Hey, wait! I didn't mean to scare you," he said, grabbing for the person's shoulder. He instead ended up grabbing the hood, revealing the person's face.

A familiar, green, brown-eyed face stared back at him, mirroring the same shock in his eyes. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.

"…Jinora?"


	22. The Beginning

Chapter 22: The Beginning

She pulled him into the room before he could say anything and locked it. "Kai, I'm sorry I-"

He wanted to hug her and scream at her. "I thought you were dead! DEAD! Do you have any idea what that put me through?!" He couldn't believe this. Almost a week had gone by, the worst week of his entire life, and she had been alive the whole time? How could she do that to him?

"I'm sorry," she said again, her eyes pleading. "I thought it would be better this way. I meant to leave earlier, but I couldn't keep myself from coming back just once-"

Kai cut her off, pulling her into a deep kiss. He held her tightly against him, unwilling to let go. As her body relaxed against his and she wrapped her arounds around him in return, he was hit with the beautiful realization that this was _real_. Not a dream, not a hallucination. She was real, and safe, and alive, and with him.

"I saw you _die_ ," he whispered into her hair. "How - how are you here?"

"The trapdoors. The tunnels. A little bit of magic." She pulled away just enough to look at him, and she smiled. "You should know that it takes more than a little bit of water to get rid of me."

Kai almost chuckled, but simply stared at her. It was really her. Kai kissed her fingers, his hands shaking. "Just, promise me you won't leave me. Not again."

Jinora's smile faltered a bit. "Kai, I can't stay in Oz. I was planning to leave after my visit."

"Then take me with you," he said immediately.

"But -"

"I'm not taking no for an answer this time," he insisted. "Not unless you don't want me anymore." He looked at her nervously. What if she had changed her mind for some reason? What would he do then?

"Of course I still want you," she said instantly. "I'll always want you… It's just, we'd be leaving Oz, for good."

"Fine," he said, a bit too cheerfully. "When do we leave?"

Jinora smiled and it lit up her whole face. "I was planning on tonight."

Kai grinned, but his smile faded. "You just…" his voice cracked. "You have to promise you won't do that to me again. Okay? Not until we're old and grey. Not again."

"I promise," she vowed. "For better and for worse, right?"

He took the engagement ring off his finger and whispered a counter-charm to shrink it back down to its original size. He then took her left hand - Oz, he never thought he'd be able to hold it again - and slipped it on her ring finger. "For better or for worse."

Jinora laughed as he picked her up and spun her around, caught up in his joy. He never thought he'd be this happy again. Kai laughed with her, smiling as she pulled him into a kiss. He held her like she was glass, fragile and breakable. He could still barely believe she was here, alive.

"I never thought I'd be able to do this again," he whispered against her lips.

"Neither did I," she confessed. Jinora kissed him harder until his back hit a wall. She combed her hands through his hair. "I love you. I'm sorry."

"I love you," Kai murmured. He thought of how he had confessed his sins to her, of his failures by working for the Wizard, and the unconditional acceptance she had shown, and as much as she had hurt him, it seemed only right to try to return it. "I forgive you, I swear I do." Jinora let out a sigh of relief against his lips. He kissed her longer, harder, as if stopping would make her disappear again. He could barely believe that she was here, warm and solid and real in his arms. Here, in the place where he had fallen in love with her, all those years ago.

He undid the clasp of her cloak to pull her closer to him, and his hands wandered to the zipper of her dress.

Jinora laughed against his mouth. "Here? Really?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure this is where I first wanted it to happen," he chuckled. "It's only fitting. Besides, 'To be continued,' remember? Unless you want to hold off…" He looked in her eyes, checking for consent. Jinora smiled and guided his hands back to her zipper. He never thought he'd be able to do this again, either.

Kai kissed her fiercely as she slipped out of her dress, and she had his shirt off in no time. She let out a soft moan as he kissed her neck and she reached for the zipper of his pants. They stumbled backwards towards one of the beds (his old one) and Jinora couldn't hold in her laughter as they fell onto the mattress.

Kai beamed at her as she straddled his hips, leaning in to kiss him, her hair falling in front of her face. He tucked some strands behind her ear, his hands sliding down her the curves of her sides to rest on her hips. She shivered, cupping his face and kissing him harder. He trailed his hand along her thighs, a satisfied smirk spreading across his face when he saw her cheeks were flushed from pleasure.

"My bed now," she panted, sitting up and lacing their fingers together. "I wanted you too." She got up and her fingers slid out of his as she laid on the other bed.

Kai stood at the foot of her bed for a second, treasuring the sight of her lying before him. "And just for the record," Kai said, half-laughing. "I am checking you out."

Jinora laughed so hard she snorted. "Oz, Kai, you dork."

"Ah, but I'm your dork," he teased. He lowered himself onto her, kissing her again. "Now, indoor or outdoor wedding?"

"Someone's eager," Jinora said smoothly, gasping a little as he bit down on her bottom lip.

Kai pulled away, softly kissing her. "Well," he said against her lips. "I am hopelessly in love with you. And you didn't answer my question."

"Outdoor," she answered, running her hands through his hair. "A meadow, or something."

"Or something?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm a little distracted right now," Jinora pointed out between kisses.

He bent low and kissed her neck. "Come on, this is just like waltzing," he said against her warm skin.

"It is so not," Jinora said, and he chuckled. Her mind drifted slightly, a bit of hesitance coming into her voice when she asked, "Kids?"

Kai froze for a second, before he grinned at her. "However many you want." He turned to rest on his side, her limbs tangled up in his, her chest pressed up against his. She shifted upwards on the mattress slightly so he could rest his head against her chest, to hear her heartbeat.

Jinora brushed his floppy hair off his sweaty forehead and kissed his forehead gently. "I was thinking three?"

"More than one, definitely," Kai said, half-joking. Jinora giggled. "But I have to say, I'm glad we did this. It was very satisfying… in more ways than one." Jinora flushed.

"I certainly hope so," she teased, pressing a kiss to his jaw. Kai rested his hands on her waist and pulled her closer, their legs tangled up together. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, breathing her in.

"I love you so much," he whispered. "I hope you know that."

Jinora smiled faintly. "I do. I'm staying with you, for good."

 _goodness knows the wicked die alone_

The police ruled it as a freak accident, a Satomobile crash gone wrong. Their beloved Captain Kai, was dead. Korra, Asami, Opal, Bolin and Mako alone knew the truth, that the two lovers had left Oz together. Opal held the final letter they'd written them, delivered by Godfrey right before he, too, had opted to leave Oz. At least till the excitement had died down, he'd said.

"I'm going to miss them," Opal said during one of their group coffee dates. Everything had been hectic since they'd all taken their respective positions of power. After all, undoing all the damage the Wizard had done wasn't easy. But with the Animal Adoption Center being completely renovated, the munchkins being given new freedoms they'd never even dreamed of, and the people of Oz safer than ever, they decided that all the added responsibility was worth it.

"I never even got to meet Jinora in person," Korra sighed. "It's a shame. For some reason, I feel like we would have gotten along really well."

"You would have," Mako confirmed. "She's a brave girl."

"Still, I'm so happy for them," Bolin sighed. "Even if we probably won't get to see them again, they're finally happy." He sniffled a little bit. "My little bro, all grown up."

Naga sleepily walked into the living room, holding a blue blanket. "You didn't tell me everyone was already here, Mommy," she whined.

"Sorry, Naga," Asami said. "We got a little distracted." Korra pulled her child into her lap as she wiped the last of her afternoon nap out of her eyes.

"Where's Uncle Kai?" Naga wondered aloud. The adults in the room paused for a moment, till Korra finally spoke.

"Sweetheart, remember when we were talking about a lady named Jinora?" she asked.

Naga nodded. "Yeah." Then, her eyes lit up with excitement. "Is she coming with Uncle Kai, Mama?"

Korra paused, careful to to choose her words. "No," she said finally, "Uncle Kai won't be joining us anymore."

Naga's face fell. "Oh."

"Hey, but it's not so bad," Korra said. "You see, he's in love with Jinora. And they're going to get married, and live happily ever after."

Naga beamed again. "Like you and Mommy? And Auntie Opal and Uncle Bolin?"

Korra glanced at Asami, then back to Naga, and smiled. For once, Kai and Jinora would get to be like an ordinary couple. "Yeah. Something like that."

 _i couldn't be happier_

"We should be there soon," Jinora said, with Kai wrapping his arms snug around her waist, enjoying the broom ride. "It's just over that little hill."

Jinora was glad she had known the place, far, far away from Oz, where Animals had been traveling as refugees. Some of the families had been there for many, many years. And it was a good land, rich in resources. A good place for her and Kai. For a future, a family.

A little village came into view as they flew over the hill. A few Animals - a sheep and some goats - looked up as they landed. A pair of Badgermoles smiled at them, and Jinora realized she knew them.

"Oma, Shu!" she greeted, dismounting from the broom. She grabbed Kai's hand and pulled him along with her as the Badgermoles met them halfway. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Oma said. "Well, smell you. I was worried, with everything that was happening in Oz."

"We're fine," Jinora said, giving Kai's hand a squeeze, and it felt good to say the truth. To know it was true. "Is Godfrey here? We were hoping he could do something for us… He's certified to officiate weddings, isn't he?"

"I do believe so," Shu said. "Oma, or Bleat, could one of you go get Godfrey? I'm sure he'll be pleased to see his friends."

Jinora hugged the Cat Owl as soon as she saw him, Godfrey wrapping his feathery wings around her. "It's good to see you, Miss Jinora. And you too, Captain Kai."

Kai grinned. "Just Kai is fine, Godfrey. Although, there is something you can do for us."

 _as long as you're mine_

"And do you, Jinora Thropp, take Kai Upland to be your husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse?"

Jinora smiled, her eyes unusually bright as she looked at Kai, her heart swelling with affection and love. "I do."

Godfrey's feline features curved up into a smile. "And do you, Kai Upland, take Jinora Thropp to be your wife…"

Kai couldn't stop staring at Jinora as Godfrey repeated the words to him. Even in her old, black, weather-worn dress, she was an absolutely beautiful bride. His bride.

"I do," he said when Godfrey finished, squeezing her hands.

"Then, by the power vested in me," Godfrey said in a bold, ringing voice, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. Finally," he added with a good-natured smile. "You may now kiss the bride."

Jinora threw her arms around Kai's neck, kissing him eagerly. He caught her in his arms, tightening his grip around her waist. The cheers and well-wishings of the Animals in attendance faded into the background, and all Kai knew was the feel of her lips against his as he pulled her closer.

"Nine months later and they'll have a baby," Godfrey muttered. Jinora laughed against Kai's mouth. The old cat owl probably wasn't too far off the mark.

"I don't know about you," Jinora laughed, pulling away. She had never been happier. "But I'm feeling particularly wicked." It felt nice to say that, knowing it was true, knowing it wasn't something nasty or wrong, but good. Amazing actually, to stand here with her husband's arms wrapped around her, knowing they were finally safe. Knowing that they could have a future, together.

Kai kissed her. "That sounds good to me, love."

* * *

 **We've finally reached the end and I hope you all enjoyed this as much as we enjoyed writing it! The sequel, titled "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", will be up in a couple of days. It's set 17 years later, when Kai and Jinora's first child, Kotta, travels back to Oz behind their backs in order to discover everything they haven't told her, and the truth about her family.**

 **Thank you for all your feedback and support! :)**


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